This post contains
spoilers. Read this post only if you have read the book “Gone Girl” entirely.
First of all, I’d
like to say, “Happy Ramadhan, everyone!”. Happy fasting month for all muslim
around the world.
Now, back to
business. We’ve been in the middle of discussion about GONE GIRL, which we all
anticipate so much this year. This post is a great treat for you who have read
the novel, because we’re gonna talk about important parts of the book, if they
should be changed or kept.
Not only the book,
I think we should also see the movie trailer as a key comparison. You must have
read my first post about how GONE GIRL is, in my opinion, going to be like THE
GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO only by the plot itself, although I hoped that GONE
GIRL could do something better. I mean, isn’t it boring just to be linear? The
book is so spectacularly told in two perspectives and why isn’t the film the
same? It’s a challenge for David Fincher.
What Fincher Wants
from the Trailer
I doubt that you
haven’t seen the movie trailer. But if you really haven’t, now please watch it
in the video box below
The trailer is amazing. This is how movie trailer is supposed to be: it gives clues about what exactly GONE GIRL is all about (for people who don’t know even the least about it); it keeps the mystery that raises curiosity (for people who know a bit about it and are attracted to see it); it shows the beauty of a book-to-movie adaptation by using atmospheric song (for people who already know what it’s all about).
The trailer is amazing. This is how movie trailer is supposed to be: it gives clues about what exactly GONE GIRL is all about (for people who don’t know even the least about it); it keeps the mystery that raises curiosity (for people who know a bit about it and are attracted to see it); it shows the beauty of a book-to-movie adaptation by using atmospheric song (for people who already know what it’s all about).
But since most of
the ‘audience candidates’ never really read “Gone Girl” (I mean, the book),
Fincher attractively prepares the trailer to make impression that they already
know the story, although they haven’t read the book. So when they finally see
the movie, they’ll get surprised because the story is totally different from
what they have expected.
I told you in my
first post: Fincher wants to show that Amy Dunne is dead. Not only by the
trailer: the special cover of Entertainment Weekly magazine shows that he
wanted to give impression Amy Dunne is dead, Amy Dunne was drowned. He wanted
to show that Nick Dunne is the one to blame for her death (with that awesome
closing statement “I did not kill my wife, I am not a murderer” which, as long
as I remembered, is not written in the book).
He wants to show
that it’s not simply a story about a gone girl: it’s actually a story of a wife
murdered by her husband.
So, meanwhile the
book-readers know that Amy is not dead at the end of the story, the rest of the
audiences would get surprised because they expect Amy is dead; or even after
they know that Nick, who’s become the target of all blame, is not the only
antagonist: Amy is actually the key antagonist.
And that’s how a
filmmaker markets his film only by the trailer and magazine cover.
What’s Added,
What’s Not in It, What’s Still in It
This is
interesting. I’ll try to break it down into parts that related to the book,
second by second:
00:07 – 00:14 “As you’ll know,
my wife, Amy Elliott Dunne, disappeared three days ago.”Didn’t quite remember if
this was in the book, so I think this is an added part to the story. It wants
to give an impression how the neighborhood is involved in searching the missing
Amy Dunne.
00:16 – 00:18 1-855-4-AMY-TIPS
or findamazingamy.com isn’t part of the book. I’m sure of it. So, again, this
is an added part, to give an impression about how the media is involved in the case
.
.
00:18 – 00:21 This
is either the scene of when Amy and Nick first met, or the scene when they play
the ‘clue game’ in their wedding anniversary.
00:21 – 00:23, 00:25
– 00:29 Obvious: it’s when Nick first encounters that Amy is missing.
00:29 – 00:33 I’m not sure if
there is this (important) bathing scene, in which Amy delivers his ignorant (or
dumped?) look to his husband. I guess this shows their third or fourth year of
wedding, when their communication gets weary. An added part.
00:33 – 00:36 Again,
chances are this one is an improvisation to the story. It again shows how the
neighbors and the people in town are involved and concerned about missing Amy.
I think Fincher shows this in the trailer to give a quick look about the
cinematography (notice the flashlight from the people gives the ‘spotlight’ effect
when the shine hits the grass).
00:36 – 00:39 The
Blue Book Boy in the Mall. Part of the book.
00:45 – 00:48 “You
can’t go on like this” | “Well, it’s not good enough for you?” | “It’s not even
close!”. My prediction: this is the argue they had the night before Amy went
missing.
00:48 – 00:51 The
grin! Nick’s famous grin!
00:54 – 00:56 This
one is interesting: did I miss something from the book or did the book tell
something about a blood trace on (what is it) Nick’s garage door? Was it only
to give more impression that leads people to believe this is a murder?
00:56 – 01:02 The camera
crews parking around Nick’s house, The Bar gets more crowded as Nick the owner
becomes the suspect, The Ellen Abbott show. Yep, Fincher paid good attention to
the media frenzy.
01:02 – 01:03 Nick
goes to New York to meet Tanner Bolt?
01:03 – 01:05 His interview
with Sharon Scheiber. Still about the media frenzy.
01:07 The photo, in
my opinion, is an (negative?) image of blood pool Amy intentionally made on the kitchen.
01:09 – 01:10 A
pair of panties found in Nick’s ex-classroom.
01:10 – 01:12 Is it
Nick’s dad’s house?
01:15 – 01:17,
01:20 – 01:21 Nick finds out his woodshed and the things Amy left for him in
it. Notice his expression.
01:18 – 01:20 I
think this is the ‘dancing monkey’ scene?
01:25 – 01:28
Strongly shows how Nick becomes the suspect, although I recalled that this is
only a scene after Nick giving statement to the neighborhood to join him and
the family to search Amy. Or is it?
01:28 – 01:31 Amy’s
drowned? I think this is just an imagination.
There are added
parts, there are maintained parts. Missing parts from the book? It’s not
missing; it’s hidden. See that the entire trailer shows Amy with her long hair,
no Neil Patrick Harris a.k.a Desi Collings; it only shows only the first half
of the book. The second part is totally hidden.
Important Parts
I agree with this interesting article by Vanity Fair about GONE GIRL essential parts of the plot. While Gillian Flynn announced earlier
that she did some changes for the ending, I do hope that she enhanced her story
especially for these parts:
- Desi Collings, more Desi Collings. No Betsy Bolt, no Rebecca, no Hilary Handy. So I hope Desi Collings gets more significant screen time, more functions to the story itself. Because his presence (in the ending, mostly) is so limited. He needs more attention with his quirky personality and all.
- The ending. It’s too drifting. The ending of the book is a hate-it-or-love-it kind of closing. But, for a movie, this is simply not a preferred ending, especially after being given by the trailer an impression that in the end Amy is dead.Flynn should do something with it: perhaps by not letting Nick and Amy be together until months after she went back?
- Let the homecoming scene be more glorious, more dramatic, but more disgraceful. Because I feel like, hell, with all the complex plans that Amy prepared (like a fake diary book that takes days or even months to write), why she comes back to Nick just like... that? Well, okay if her plans just went wrong; she got robbed, she got kidnapped by Desi, and all, but why coming back? I think the answers to all these questions have something to do with Amy’s personality: she wants to get attention, she wants to get power, she wants control. Coming back is her final plan, so let it be more breathtaking and ‘sick’.
In the other hand,
I want the film to keep these parts from the book:
- The motel scene. We know that Greta and Jeff are already in the cast-character list (played by Lola Kirke and Boyd Holbrook), so we cannot ignore the motel scene. But, different from the aforementioned Vanity Fair article, I do hope that the focus to this scene is kept. This is important to show what a smarty-ass Amy is, how she plans each and every step that actually happens. And it’s important too to show how she actually feels doubtful, anxious, or even guilty about what she has done. This is important to delve into Amy’s personality, especially if the dual-perspective writing style is completely neglected.
- Personality approach. Why spent half of the book to let the readers trust Amy’s fake diary if finally none of it makes it through the film? The point of the first half is to give introduction about who Amy is, who Nick is. So it’s just so shameful if the the first half of the book (I mean, Amy’s chapters in the first half) is just ignored like that. We want reason of why each of them cheat or trick each other.
- The media frenzy. I already broke the trailer down into details for you and it’s apparent how the trailer wants to show the atmosphere of media involved in such a crime. How people suddenly be the judge of who is right or who is wrong, who is the victim and who is the culprit. That’s a good point, that’s a unique point of the book, and that is worth keeping.
Phew, what a post. I’ve been going too long, because the thing is I just
can’t stop talking about this movie. October, please come faster!
Again, let’s join me discussing the plot of GONE GIRL: what it’ll be
like, how different it will be compared to the book. Next post covers my
opinion about award reception towards GONE GIRL. Will it be an award darling?
Excellent post! I just read this book a couple of months ago and I'm curious to see what the film does with it, especially concerning the ending.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see how the second trailer is coming! :)
Delete“As you’ll know, my wife, Amy Elliott Dunne, disappeared three days ago.” and bathing scene are actually in the book. Love the The 'Amazing Amy' shot.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the addition arif!
Deletemy best bet, the bathing scene takes place in Desi Coling's house, maybe, but the trailer is so manipulative putting Nick's appearance after that....
ReplyDeleteAmy's diary is really a homework for the movie,..
by the way, how many times you watch the trailer ? :p
Interesting point! But Amy's hair is still long, right? Shouldn't it be short?
DeleteI don't know, tens of times maybe
Great post! I just finished the book and can't wait for the movie
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Delete