The complex nonlinear narrative of Gone Girl jumps back and forth across its story timeline, gradually revealing past events that affect the action in the present. Gone Girl opens with Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) returning home on his fifth wedding anniversary to find that his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), is missing. This opening sequence instantly launches the local police – and the audience – into the central mystery of Gone Girl. But it’s far from the first scene to take place chronologically. During the ensuing investigation into Amy’s disappearance, Gone Girl keeps cutting back to events in the past that eventually led to her self-abduction.
