lacks credibility in it's portrayal of women characters

Rating: 2/10 (21 January 2015)

"Gone girl" is a dramatic film (2014) directed by David Fincher ("The Social Network")with Ben Affleck. The film follows the story of Nick and the disappearance of his wife Amy. Amy and Nick are presented from their early days as a couple, through the bumps in their relationship and up to the film dramatic conclusion. In the film are three main female characters: Amy, Margo (Nick's sister) and Rhonda the detective (Kim Dickens). The three portray a spectrum of female representations from the most problematic one (Amy) to the most positive (Detective Rhonda). Amy is seemingly the perfect woman. She begins her life as a daughter to parents who write about every experience she has as a child in a successful book series called Amazing Amy. Although the success of the books allows Amy financial freedom it also interferes with the relationship between her and her parents, since it is clear that Amy could never be so perfect as the character her parents have created. On the other hand it seems that in her relationships with men Amy tries to be "amazing" as possible or at least in the relationship with Nick as the film describes a sequence of events that mimic a romantic comedy with no connection to reality. Unfortunately this lack of credibility also appears in the rest of the events of the movie.
The two other leading women characters in the movie are less interesting than Amy. Margo, Nick's sister and best friend, serves as a backbone as she supports all her brother actions. Margo is supposed to be Nick's twin sister but while Nick is portrayed by Ben Affleck, the actress who plays Margo is nine years younger than Ben in real life and that gap is clearly visible on screen. I found it very annoying. It is not clear why it was necessary to categorize the brother and sister as twins. this example also shows the problem of age difference in Hollywood where young actresses often portray a much older women and men play younger men, and that of course has implications on the way viewers see the way a woman should look like in those ages. The third and more positive is Rhonda the detective. In fact she is portrayed in such a good manner that there is no particular meaning for her being a woman and it was possible to cast for her role a man instead with no apparent transformations in the film. She is very professional, tough, honest and serious at her work (much more than all those around her). I would not recommend the film for anyone who sees herself as a feminist, because it is very problematic toward women. I can not specify without spoilers but I'll just say that what no movie has done since "Fatal Attraction" with Glenn Close (1987) this movie dares and by doing so jeopardize so many years of feminism.