Psychological Analysis of Amy Dunne from 'Gone Girl'

The movie “Gone Girl” by David Fincher is set in a small suburb neighborhood in Missouri. The movie is about alleged murder of the main character. The main idea of this essay is to analyze the main character’s psychological problem.

Almost everyone has heard of or experienced someone with the crazy ex boyfriend or clingy and jealous girlfriend that will not leave you alone. Psychological problems are usually related to mental illness and can sometimes be difficult to pinpoint, however in this movie it does not seem that hard to master her craziness. Many people experience a psychological issue at some point in their lifetime. The main character, Amy Dunne is a writer and is married to Nick Dunne. Amy is a female who tells many lies to get attention and is an unreliable narrator. Amy shows action related to mental illness. In the beginning of the movie, Nicks wife Amy going missing with Nick looking like the suspect. Amy has disappeared from her house, leaving everyone wondering where she went making it look like Nick is the one that made her go missing. She plays out the crime scene perfectly to convince everyone that she had been the victim of a kidnapping, going so far as to turning the room upside down and creating a bloody mess in the kitchen which she later cleaned up. She wanted people to think she was murdered by her husband.

Amy suffers a multi-personality disorder, also known as dissociative personality disorder, which is a mental illness in which a person has more than one identity. A person who has multi-personality disorder switches from personality to personality every few days and each personality has its own characteristics. An average Missouri husbands, wife goes missing on the morning of the couples fifth anniversary. For about a week an investigation was in action to find out if Amy’s husband was the suspect of killing her.

Leading up to diagnosing Amy we see many symptoms that could trigger psychological disorders in her. Amy is a very confused person. When it comes to psychology at first I would have thought she could have schizophrenia. Amy at times seems like a girl that would be described as the ideal daughter and/or wife. In reality, she is just a narcissistic person who wants all the attention and has several serious problems. The movie contains a series of flashbacks to show the loving relationship the couple had before her disappearance. To me, Amy seems normal and happy in the flashbacks that were played. That quickly changes when Amy has faked the entire disappearance to look like a murder hoping to have her husband convicted of murder and sent off to prison so she could be free from him. Throughout the movie she becomes extremely controlling and manipulative, not to mention extremely creative with plotting everything out and making it seem like Nick is the one who made her go missing.

Throughout the movie not only does Amy have psychological problems but so does her husband Nick. He suffers from antisocial personality disorder. Nick does not know a lot about Amy and her life although he is married to her. He does not know what she does throughout the day or who she is even friends with.

Many psychological issues were found throughout David Finches famous movie “Gone Girl”. As the movie came to a close, her creative manipulation did not end. Once she told Nick that she was pregnant, he felt like he needed to stay with her even though it was quite evident that it was going to be a turbulent life ahead living with Amy Dunne.