Two years after the opening of the pervertedly female-empowering ¡°Gone Girl¡± (based on Gillian Flynn¡¯s best-selling novel), I¡¯m one of the people who still get chills when remembering Rosamund Pike¡¯s monologue. ¡°Gone Girl¡± officially put Flynn¡¯s name on the map in more ways than one. Her online reputation in the U.S. is that of a female novelist who promotes rabid feminism with the help of prestigious male directors. In ¡°Gone Girl¡± that male director was David Fincher. Now another Flynn novel ¡ª ¡°Dark Places¡± ¡ª has been adapted to the screen, this time by French-born Gilles Pacquet-Brenner (¡°Sarah¡¯s Key¡°). The chill factor is toned down here, but Flynn¡¯s fascination with the evil and cruelty lurking in a woman¡¯s heart is expertly conveyed.
Set once again in the Midwest (Kansas), the story swoops and circles around the mysterious massacre of a family in the late 1980s. Libby Day was 8 years old when her mother and two sisters became victims of a shooting rampage. She escaped by hiding in the barn and then is later pressured into testifying that her cult-worshipping teenage brother, Ben, was the killer. On the strength of Libby¡¯s testimony, Ben spends the next 28 years in prison.
Libby (Charlize Theron), now an adult, has been living off the proceeds of a ghost-written autobiography and donations from strangers. The money, however, is about to dry up and she is uncertain about her next move. Having matured into a guarded recluse who can¡¯t bear to be touched by anyone, she openly displays her trauma, mostly at night when she bothers to venture outdoors.
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