The trailer of “Gone Girl,” directed by David Fincher (“The Social Network”) and starring Ben Affleck (“Argo”) and Rosamund Pike (“The World’s End”) oozes profound sentiments of devotion and care as a man steps onto a stage in front of a crowd to tell them that his wife has disappeared. His voice isn’t heavy, but you can feel the emotion behind the words. The emotion permeates through this clip to the next few shots, which show the couple in love, and the shots almost seem to waltz to the accompanying music of the trailer.
Gone Girl
A
20th Century Fox
Suddenly, however, something’s not right. The couple fights; there’s a fair bit of tension as she exclaims that it can’t go on like this and he is implied to throw her on the floor in rage. Then, you see shots of him standing next to a photo of his missing wife, grinning as he does it. The loving, tender sentiment now sours, turning into suspicion as we get the feeling that this man is struggling to make the world see that he did not kill his wife. The emotion doesn’t go away and the trailer ends, leaving the viewer curious and involved. The sudden change in emotion juxtaposed with the uniformity in the tender feeling of the soundtrack comes across as eerie and is the defining element of this preview.
Did he really kill his wife? After seeing this trailer, you’ll desperately want to know.