Gone Girl: Comparison of The Book and The Film

The book Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and adapted film is a story about husband Nick Dunne and his wife Amy. They have been “happily” married for four years until their fifth anniversary when Amy goes missing and is assumed dead days later after she is nowhere to be found. This creates a large-scale investigation, media frenzy, and bad image for nick. Nick soon becomes the prime suspect and must do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of this. It is later revealed that Amy has is alive and has planned to frame nick for murder. She believes this is the best way to punish him for cheating.

Nick starts his own investigation of Amy’s past boyfriends discovering she has a history of framing men. Amy on the run with no money and nowhere to go calls her ex-boyfriend and convinces him to let her stay there because Nick was abusing her. Nick eventually apologizes and confesses his innocence one last time on national television before finally getting arrested. Amy’s feelings for Nick are rekindled after seeing him on television. She frames her ex-boyfriend for kidnapping her and kills him making it look she escaped. She returns to Nick with her story releasing him from conviction.

After Nick learns about what she has done, he decides to expose her to the world. She derails his plan by sharing that she is pregnant. Earlier in the story when they were trying to conceive a child Amy convinced Nick to give a semen sample to a fertility clinic. Apparently, among all her other deviant acts, she also obtained Nick’s sperm and inseminated herself. After finding out about the pregnancy Nick feels obligated to protect his child from Amy. This is a great twist ending to an amazing story.

Now this is an adapted film from a novel so there are few differences from the book to the movie. One of the first differences involves how Nick and Amy met. In the movie Nick and Amy meet at a party and leave together. In the novel after Nick and Amy’s first encounter they do not meet again until they run into each other randomly on the street eight months later. This is probably changed to create less confusion and for the sake of the movies run time.

Another major difference is the scene when Nick proposes to Amy after two years of dating. Amy’s parents are the creators of a series of children's books called Amazing Amy based on their daughter Amy. In the scene Nick and Amy are attending a party for the release of her parents' new book. Amy is complaining about how the Amy in the book is better than her, the real Amy. Amy is talking to reporters about how she has never been married when Nick comes impersonating a reporter and proposes to her. This scene is not described in the book at all. Their relationship is described in the book but the proposal in never talked about. The movie also skips over some other stories such as Amy taking care of Nicks mother and Amy’s suspicions of Nicks affair.

There is also a difference in the clues that Amy leaves Nick. In the novel Amy’s second clue sends Nick to Hannibal, his place of employment as a teenager and one of his many affair locations. In the film Nick only must find three clues. The Hannibal clue is completely cut from the film, which keeps us from seeing Nick think back to his times with Andie on his drive to Hannibal. This also hinders are connection to Andie and keeps us from getting to know their relationship until later when Andie visits Nick at Margo's house.

Another minor difference would be the mall investigation. In the novel, Nick, a couple of his friends, and Amy’s dad go to the mall to confront the Blue Book Boys, a gang of laid off factory workers, who now reside in the abandoned mall. They are known for selling drugs and assaulting women. Nick does not think the police are doing everything they can in the investigation. During their investigation they discover that Amy was there asking to buy a gun. Amy was also seen there looking to buy a gun in the movie, but it is discovered by detective Rhonda Boney and officer Jim Gilpin. In the movie they are the ones who go to investigate the mall and the Blue Book Boys are never mentioned. We see a lot more of their crime scene work in the movie which helps tie it more into criminal justice. The abandoned mall is just said to house homeless people.

Another major difference in the novel is the story of Hilary Handy. In both the novel and film, it is confirmed that Amy has a habit of framing people especially past boyfriends. Although in the novel it turns out Amy had also framed one of her friends in school. Hilary was the new girl at school and Amy took her under her wing. They became close but eventually Amy noticed that Hilary started to become more popular than her and did not like that.

Amy found out that Hilary like the Amazing Amy book, so she convinced Hilary to dye her hair the same color as Amy’s and do all these other weird things to make it look like Hilary was stalking Amy. Amy even fell down a flight of stairs to crack her ribs and make it look like Hilary pushed her. Hilary moved away and never told anyone the truth. In the novel she is one of the first of Amy’s lies and this is also when Nick decides to give Hilary a call. She eventually tells the truth about what Amy had done. This is not even mentioned in the movie, although I think the idea of Amy framing someone other than her ex-boyfriends would have given another great aspect. There is also a different story behind Amy’s ex-boyfriend Tommy. In the novel and film, he is accused of raping Amy. In the film Tommy pleads and receives a reduced sentence although Nick still discovers him as a registered sex offender with no job. In the novel Nick finds that Tommy does not receive such a bad fate after Amy drops the charges.

Amy’s parents also have a noticeably larger role in the book than in the movie. Nick has a bad image through most of the case in the movie and book. Although in the book, he relies heavily on Amy’s parents to better his public image. Amy also writes extensively about her up-bringing and her mother's miscarriages before having Amy. None of this is mentioned in the movie and her parents are not main characters in the least. I think they do this to keep it more of an action movie and to keep in from getting boring or slow. Nick’s father also has a bigger role in the novel. In the film Nick’s father is only seen once. In the novel it is revealed that Nick’s father struggled with a hatred for women in his past. Nick’s father escapes assisted living and ends up at the police station the same day that Amy goes missing which creates some suspicion early on and does not give Nick a good look either. It turns out that Amy had visited Nick’s father and convinced him to go to their house creating suspicion.

In the book Amy fakes having a fear of blood. She pretends to have this fear for over year before finally faking her death. She goes as far as pretending to pass out at the sight of it one point. She creates this fear in order to make it look like she could never spill her own blood all over her own floor as she does. In the book she takes a box cutter to her arm in order to get blood everywhere. In the movie there is nothing about her being afraid of blood and she gets her blood using an IV in a much neater fashion. I think in the book and the movie this really shows how much time and thought she has put into this plan perfecting it.

Another small difference is when Noelle Hawthorne makes her first appearance. Noelle Hawthorne is the friend Amy made before her disappearance to create problems for Nick and reveal the fake pregnancy at the time. In the novel we do not get introduced to her until she shows up at the search party headquarters. In the film she is on the lawn on the first day of the investigation wanting answers. I think Noelle brings more of a comedy side to keep the story from being all dark and intense. There are also a few characters not in the film that are in the book. One being Nick’s as said earlier appears only once in the beginning of the film. Two others being Tanner Bolt’s wife, Betsy Bolt and Desi’s mom.

After Amy returns Nick decides to try gather up enough evidence against her but Amy is already one step ahead. In the novel Amy poisons herself with antifreeze and then throws it back up for safe keeping in the freezer. This is a failsafe so if Nicks tries to expose her in any way, she can to take it to the police framing Nick for attempted murder. Luckily Nick finds it and disposes of it. This is not mentioned in the movie, but a short shot of the freezer may imply that there is something there. In the novel we also get to see right up until the baby is born. The movie ends before we get to see a pregnant Amy instead, we get in home interviews after the return. I like the interviews, but I also think it would be interesting to see how the pregnancy would affect their marriage after everything that has happened. Especially how Nick would treat a pregnant Amy.

A small but interesting scene missing from the movie is when Andie bites Nick in the face. In the novel Tanner Bolt convinces Nick to break up with Andie and she does not take it well. Nick tries to let Andie down easy by using a speech Tenner helped prepare. Andie accuses Nick of using her for sex. She tries to leave but Nick grabs her and tries to make her understand but she ends up biting his face leaving him in pain for a few days. I think this would have been a great scene to include in the movie because you do not get to really see Andie’s emotions after they are exposed.

Desi’s death scene is already a graphic one in the book so you can believe they made it gruesome for the movie. In the book the plan to kill Desi is shortened. He is drugged with sleeping pills and is inferred to be asleep when his throat is slit with a box cutter. In the movie every step of Amy’s plan to frame Desi is shown, even the most unthinkable ones. The main difference is the cameras in the house that she just uses as even more evidence and how Desi is killed. Instead of him being drugged and killed in his sleep, she slits his throat while they are having sex. Blood is sprayed all over the white bed and her white lingerie.

Even with the many differences mentioned in the novel and film the plot is the same and made for a great story. I think some of the changes were necessary and some could have been done differently but it did not in any way take away from either. This is a great read and watch. I would recommend this book and film to any adult who loves a good mystery and drama.

There are many criminal justice aspects throughout the film from crime scene investigation to rape. The crime scene investigations in the movie and book are very realistic especially when they used luminol to reveal the mopped-up blood in the kitchen. One major aspect is husband and wife abuse. Throughout the story readers are inclined to choose a side, between Nick and Amy. Although both clearly lie and will do anything to get people on their side. We are never sure if Nick ever pushed Amy but there is psychological abuse from Amy. This all can be said to stem from Nick and Amy’s marriage dissatisfaction and symptoms of depression. Depression is never clearly stated but there are signs and symptoms of it shown through Nick and Amy after they both lose their jobs and move to Missouri.

An article in the Journal of Family Violence describes a study linking martial dissatisfaction and depressive symptoms to Intimate partner violence or IPV. The study took 681 patients from 12 different academic centers. Patients were eligible to participate if they met criteria for current chronic major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder with a superimposed major depressive disorder, or recurrent major depressive disorder for at least two years. Patients had to be between the ages 18 and 75 and had to score greater than 20 on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. Patients were excluded if they had a high risk for suicide, had abused or were dependent on an illegal substance in the last six months, or had any other type of mental illness. Of those 681 patients, 316 were eligible, 96 men and 220 women.

Martial dissatisfaction was evaluated using a 6-point self-reporting scale and another follow-up interviewer evaluation. The correlation was high between these two methods of evaluation with men self-reporting being .59 and interviewer evaluation being 91. Women scored higher with self-reporting at .73 and interviewer evaluation being at 205. About one-half of women and one-third of men reported some level of dissatisfaction with their marriage. Depressive symptoms were measured using the 24 item Hamilton Rating Scale for depression. The results indicated moderate to severe depression with a score between 20 and 43. The mean score for men being 25.79 and 27.45 for women.

This may indicate men are more likely to be depressed while married. The results concluded that of the 96 men in the study 73 have been psychologically victimized and of the 220 women in the study 155 have been psychologically victimized. 3 of the 96 men reported sometime of physical injury and 10 of the 220 women reported sometime of physical injury. This is just a small representation of the men and women population. The physical injuries may not be very high but the psychologically victimized is very high. In Gone Girl Amy severely psychologically abused Nick. Some may say he deserved it and others may think differently.

Throughout most of the movie Nick was the only suspect in the murder of his wife. Another study titled, “The Quebec Study”, took place in Canada and looks at spousal homicide in Quebec from 1991 to 2010. In this study investigators reviewed files from the Quebec Coroner Head Office. The records included the coroner's report, police report, autopsy, toxicology screen, and medical records. With this information they were able to pull and review many variables from each record. Between 1991 and 2010, 276 spousal homicides occurred in Quebec. This includes common law relationships which are not recognized as marriages in Quebec. Of these 276 spousal homicides, 42 victims were male and 234 females. The female victims ranged from the ages 15 to 83 with an average age of 41.4. The male victims ranged from ages 22 to 79 and the average age being 46.3.

A major factor in the movie is mental illness. Throughout the movie Amy shows strong signs of narcissism and psychosis. She feels no remorse when doing things to try and frame Nick. She thinks he deserves every bit of it for cheating. The Quebec study also looks at the victim's psychiatric history. Seven of the female victims were reported to have psychiatric problems while 28 of the male victims were reported to have psychiatric problems. This is not a super high number, but I do believe that it can be have some correlation because mental illnesses untreated can lead to irrational behavior especially towards your significant other.

Another major part of the novel is the investigation that is conducted in attempt to find Amy. The book and film to a great job detailing the investigation and make it as realistic as possible. An article titled, “Missing Persons: the processes and challenges of police investigation,” describe missing persons issues in the United Kingdom. Over 300,000 missing persons incidents are recorded each year in the UK. That would mean a person is reported missing every two minutes by police.

As seen in the novel or movie a missing person can be intentional or unintentional. It is difficult to determine one or the other with little information. About two thirds of those reported missing are under the age of 18. That may sound like a lot but about 80% of those individuals will return within 24 hours without police involvement. Even with these numbers over 2000 are remain missing for over a year. An average of 20 people a week are found dead after reported missing. This number is way too high and there are only but so many officers available to work these cases. This is just in the United Kingdom so I can only imagine what the statistics are like in the United States. Other factors also have effects on these investigations such as evidence, public cooperation, and time.

I think this must be one of the most interesting books and films I have seen in a very long time. David Fincher took on the challenge of turning an amazing novel in to a movie and exceeded greatly. I do not think anyone could have done a much better job. He also made necessary changes to the story to make it even more watchable and enticing. It tells a unique story and gives many different aspects of real-world events. Every event in this movie is very possible. It shows a detailed investigation, struggles of a failing marriage, possible mental illness, and more. It makes you reflect on things and events throughout your own personal. I prefer the book because I think the word choice paints a more detailed image of some of the events and scenes. I would recommend the novel and film to any adult who is interested in a great crime drama or mystery.