Thereve been a lot of column inches wasted on whether writer Gillian Flynn and director David Fincher have created a misogynists wet dream in high society sociopath Amy Elliott Dunne. After all, shes the wife that goes off the deep end when her increasingly estranged husband Nick finds comfort in the arms of another. 'Bitches be crazy', right? Wrong, no and not a bit of it. Amy isnt your standard woman scorned, and the narrative makes it very clear that her long range, calculated, astonishingly brutal and single-minded scheme (to disappear and have Nick arrested and executed for her murder) isnt her first, although it is her worst. An only child of parents made rich by the publication of childrens books starring an idealised perfect version of herself, Amazing Amy has little affect, instead simulating emotional expression based upon what she considers shes entitled to. Try to remove what shes entitled to, and she reacts poorly, and perfect Amy was most certainly entitled to the perfect, doting husband. Amys machinations are months in the preparation and fiendish in their execution. The only things she wasnt able to plan for were being mugged of the funds she needed to lay low and being held captive by the obsessed ex-lover she calls to help her out of the jam. When things begin to fall apart around her, she simply redraws her grand scheme around her new circumstances, murdering her ex and blaming him for the kidnapping, to return to Nick: exonerating him and reclaiming him for herself in a breathtaking display of chutzpah. It doesnt matter to her in the slightest that her husband knows what she tried to do to him, who and what she really is. She covers all the angles, and Nick has no option but to acquiesce: the end of the film sees the two begin to cautiously resume their lives together. Amazing Amy always gets what she wants.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
