A MUST WATCH !!

Rating: 9/10 (27 October 2019)

Acclaimed director David Fincher presents a tense thriller adapted from Gillian Flynn's (screenplay is by Flynn herself) best selling novel of the same name - the story of a marriage gone bad... bad... BAD... a super-twisted & knotty BAD !! This movie explores the vulnerabilities, helplessness, frustration and the sheer desperation of being tied down in a doomed marriage.
Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) and his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) are writers who have lost their jobs in the recession and are forced to relocate from New York to small town Missouri on account of Nick's mother who is diagnosed with fatal cancer and Nick's new job as a teacher in a local college. On the day of their fifth marriage anniversary, Nick, on returning home, finds Amy missing. There are also signs of struggle. Nick alerts the cops who begin an investigation that is bathed in the spotlights of a 24*7 news media melee, given the fact that Amy was a minor celebrity. As the hunt for a missing person transmutes into a murder investigation, skeletons start tumbling out of what was once considered a "forever after" fairy tale marriage and the needle of suspicion, slowly, but surely, turns towards Nick.
What are the problems that caused these die-hard, hot-for-each-other romantics to fall out ? And, how bad is the fall-out ? Is it so frustrating and are they so desperate to kill for it ? The movie narrates all this and more in a plot that presents one twist after another which leads the viewer to believe one way only to trump them in the very next scene in deceit with their feelings oscillating between Nick and Amy with each unravelling of the knots. I refrain from detailing any further of the story which would be providing spoilers that would spoil the viewer's experience.
Marriage is HARD WORK. It is a continuing exercise in mutual understanding which sustains and nurtures the seeds of mutual attraction which are supposed to sprout into an everlasting and deepening bond with strong roots. A continuing work in progress to build and reinforce compatibility through mutual care, trust and most importantly, communication. But, many, if not most, marriages trap the couple as hapless prisoners in an humdrum existence constructed on the ashes of their hyper-expectant beginnings that are divorced from their real selves. While one may never know the veracity of the adage of marriages being forged in heaven, there are more than ample proofs that once the frills & thrills of initial courtship fade off, deficits in mutual compatibility and communication could well render the marriage as a living hell with no escape.
Nick & Amy Elliott Dunne traverse the entire spectrum of a marriage from its blissful beginnings to banal existence and onto fatal desperation in all of five years. While the rifts start appearing when the reality of depression, retrenchments and financial issues start to bite in, are they the cause or merely symptoms of some deeper fissures ? Despite seven years - two years of courtship and five years of being married - of knowing each other, how well do they know and understand each other ? What and how deep are their feelings for each other ? Do they know each other at all ? Or, are they just familiar with the exterior personality that each wants to present the other ?
David Fincher has crafted a nail biting non-linear thriller which while being centered on an intriguing whodunit murder mystery also transcends the genre to explore the murky waters of modern marriages as well as that maddening phenomenon of our days called 24*7 news media. He pries open the Nick & Amy's layer by lifeless layer to pull out the diseased underside hiding behind the picture perfect exteriors. He also presents a commentary on the all pervasive sensation hungry news media which thrives on tabloid-isation of any news with scant regard to issues of privacy or even decency. News anchors - a la Arnab - preside over daily news shows which are stage managed kangaroo courts dishing out near vigilante justice based on insinuations and innuendos.
Fincher's masterly skills are in crafting a film that strikes a fine balance in blending a first rate thriller with a nuanced study on the growing morass of modern marriages which are staged on flimsy foundations which end up spawning disenchanted couples and a growing number of divorces and dysfunctional families, societal hypocrisy, sensation seeking news media and an industry of attorneys who survive on familial discord. In examining the life of Nick & Amy, Fincher holds a mirror to our own relationships forcing the views to reflect upon them.

Ben Affleck is absolutely stunning as Nick Dunne, sporting a role with several shades of grey which requires him to be a consummate romantic to completely outwitted husband caught in the quagmire. But, it is Rosamund Pike who aces the tricky role of "Amazing" Amy showcasing with equal ease, romance, charisma, glamour and chilling malice. She is chameleon like in moving from being vulnerable to venomous to calculating to crowd pleasing to much more effortlessly. She is sure to earn several Best Actress nominations for this titular role and may also win a few. The spot-on supporting cast consisting of Neil Patrick Harris as a creepy jilted ex stalking Amy, Tyler Perry as an attorney specialising in defending husbands accused of murdering their wife, Carrie Coon as Nick's twin sister who is only support and Kim Dickens as the homicide detective are effective. The background score by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross provides an accentuating texture to the proceedings.
A slick, superlative and layered thriller that is a disturbing, yet, edge-of-the-seat entertainer that gets under your skin and makes you squirm. The following lines that open and close the movie are likely to resonate within the viewer long after they have finished watched it.
"What are you thinking? What are you feeling?
What have we done to each other? What will we do?"