In April Showers, Team TFE looks at our favorite waterlogged moments in the movies. Here's Chris on Gone Girl (2014).
Gone Girl is a variation on Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, its Nick and Amy being the new George and Martha. But instead of a pair of unwitting guests, this George and Martha use the media to attack one another - and the verbal barbs are traded in for actual bloodshed. David Fincher loads the film with the darkest rapid fire comedy, much like Edward Albee's acidic play, and the final beats of both can spark immediate audience conversation.
The final act of Gone Girl is where the film reveals its darkest side. If you haven't yet seen the film or read the source novel, then you don't know that the first two acts are pretty twisted themselves. The film's structure and narrative conceits keep us from seeing the true version of this George and Martha together until Amy's third act return...
The shower scene is preserved for author Gillian Flynn's source novel, though was more instantly famous in the film for a peekaboo, barely there glimpse at Ben Affleck's floppy bits. The actor nudity is actually smartly placed in the scene for it lends Nick an immediate vulnerability that's unmatched by Amy's unflappable presence.
In fact, Amy's pristine naked body is as much of a threat to Nick as the words coming out of her mouth. Her ability to wash the blood clean off of her body tells Nick that this whole episode can be written off or he can be the one written off. Even Rosamund Pike's vocal nonchalance suggests "see, it's that easy." By comparison, Nick hasn't even gotten wet yet.
By now, Amy has already fooled the police with her story, she just has to get Nick to fall in line. Just like George and Martha, their sad and twisted love for one another doesn't come without punshment.
One of the most impressive and terrifying aspects of Pike's performance is the ferocious confidence her Amy has - at this point in the story, she already knows that she has won and we fear that she will. Pike's final battles with Affleck in this last act are her shining moments and certainly cemented her Oscar nomination.
Sleep on it.