Gone Girl

I want to say right away that I absolutely adore this film — and the book, but more on that in a moment. Rosamund Pike’s performance is stunning, and I’m genuinely sad she didn’t win an Oscar for it. She plays the most amazing and multifaceted psychopath I’ve ever seen on screen. The rest of the cast, the performances, the visuals — everything is great. I’ve watched it about 100 times already, and it’s one of my all-time favourites. Highly recommend.

Men always use that, don’t they? As their defining compliment: “She’s a cool girl”. Cool girl is hot. Cool girl is game. Cool girl is fun. Cool girl never gets angry at her man. She only smiles in a chagrined, loving manner. And then presents her mouth for fucking.

Now, the book. I’ll say upfront that this is one of my all-time favourite books, and I genuinely consider Gillian Flynn one of the best modern writers — even though she doesn’t have many works to her name.

I read the book for the first time after watching the film, and fell in love with it immediately — it’s full of details that add to and deepen everything the film shows.

When two people love each other and they can’t make that work, that’s the real tragedy.

This book is not only close to perfect in its depiction of how to almost commit the perfect crime — it also reveals a lot about relationships between men and women and asks some genuinely interesting questions. It touches on a wide range of topics: how upbringing shapes a person, how family dynamics affect children, and what happens inside a marriage. None of it is sugarcoated. And the same goes for the film.

All the characters are complex and interesting — especially Amy. There are also some pretty strong feminist points woven throughout. I’ve read the book three times, and each time I noticed something new.

Stay away from boys. They’ll either throw rocks or look up your skirt.

I genuinely don’t understand — or have any patience for — people, especially women, who dismiss Gone Girl by saying the heroine is terrible, completely insane, and so on. They simply don’t get it.