This Magic Moment: Top Five David Fincher Scenes
This Magic Moment is Sam Watermeier’s commentary in which he analyzes a signature scene from a film — one of those indelible, awe-inspiring moments that define a movie (e.g. the shower stabbing in “Psycho,” the moon-bound bike ride in “E.T.”) — and writes about why it is so memorable.
This week, in anticipation of David Fincher's new film, "Gone Girl," he is taking a look back at the director's finest moments.
Top Five David Fincher Scenes
5. "Se7en" — Opening Credits
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEq-4fua3lM&w=500&h=315] Leave it to David Fincher to set up a crime thriller with a fever dream of a Nine Inch Nails music video. Set to a remix of "Closer," this credits sequence takes a fly-on-the-wall look at a serial killer preparing to strike — shaving off fingerprints, sharpening needles, writing down his grisly plans. The lyric "You get me closer to God" arrives like a cry from the killer's scarred psyche, foreshadowing his self-righteous mission to punish those guilty of the seven deadly sins.
In an interview with the website, Art of the Title, Fincher revealed that we almost didn't get this early look at the film's villain:
"In the original script there was a title sequence that had Morgan Freeman buying a house out in the middle of nowhere and then travelling back on a train. He was making his way back to the unnamed city from the unnamed suburban sprawl, and that's where the title was supposed to be, but we didn't have the money to do that. We also lacked the feeling of John Doe, the villain, who just appeared 90 minutes into the movie. It was oddly problematic, you just needed a sense of what our heroes were up against. Kyle Cooper, the designer of the title sequence, came to me and said, 'You know, you have these amazing books that you spent tens of thousands of dollars to make for the John Doe interior props. I'd like to see them featured.' And I said, 'Well, that would be neat, but that's kind of a 2D glimpse. Figure out a way for it to involve John Doe, to show that somewhere across town somebody is working on some really evil shit.' And the rest, as they say, is internet history."
4. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" — Lisbeth's Revenge
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rROL4QphtHc&w=500&h=315] Fincher made a strong impression with "Se7en," seemingly taking a cue from its villain, who says, "Wanting people to listen, you can’t just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer, and then you’ll notice you’ve got their strict attention.” Now that Fincher knows he has our attention, he's been showing remarkable restraint.
Revenge is a dish best served cold, and as goth-punk hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) exacts it here, Fincher moves away from his provocative style, observing her actions with the kind of journalistic distance Daniel Craig's character employs.
3. "Zodiac" — Lake Berryessa Killing
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFN4Bb7wcog&w=500&h=315] Here's another example of how spare Fincher can be. The difference between this sequence and the opening murder scene is literally night and day. With Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" creeping onto the soundtrack like the fog slowly rolling into the San Francisco Bay setting, the night murder sequence displays Fincher's ominous, hypnotic aesthetic, making the killing seem like a bad dream. Stripped of music and moving at a dully realistic pace, the daylight murder scene re-sensitizes viewers to the harsh reality of the violence.
Like a witness testifying about these crimes, Fincher's presentation of the murders is sometimes painfully clear and sometimes filtered through the dreamlike fog of memory.
2. "The Social Network" — Mark Zuckerberg Loses His Best Friend
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOMUe26X3mo&w=500&h=315] Shortly before Facebook reaches one million members, founder Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) finds himself in a vicious argument with co-founder and friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). The irony of a man losing his friend while building a global platform to bring friends together is the stuff of grand tragedy. Fincher enhances the drama with a somberly elegant aesthetic and crisp medium shots of Zuckerberg and Saverin under the cold, unforgiving fluorescent lights of Facebook's headquarters.
1. "The Game" — Game's Over
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXBUdCvqpNg&w=500&h=315] Fincher is not known for being sentimental. But like soft light flickering in the dark, his heart shows through in all of his films. That discovery often feels like a revelation, especially in the ending of "The Game," as Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) emerges from a rabbit hole full of thorny twists into a place of tender emotion. It's a moment as cathartic for the audience as it is for the protagonist — the most bracingly emotional moment of Fincher's career.
The Best of the Rest
"Alien 3" — Face-to-Face
[vimeo 28495932 w=400 h=315] Fincher's first film delivers one of the most iconic scenes in the "Alien" franchise. Brutally intimate and ominously erotic, it finds Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) at her most vulnerable — face-to-face with the creature that haunts her dreams. As it pants and drools over her, and she shuts her eyes as tightly as she can, you can sense that the creature looms as large in her mind as it does in the flesh. It's the one moment in the entire series in which the weight of Ripley's history with the alien is most palpable.
"Fight Club" — "I Want You to Hit Me As Hard As You Can"
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu0xbOJ6fFo&w=500&h=315] It's the moment in which the fight club is born, and it's endearingly awkward, exuding an innocence that clashes with the grimy setting, which you can practically feel smudging your fingers.
"Panic Room" — Intrusion
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2M38ezYpwE&w=500&h=315] A great white-knuckle popcorn scene that delivers some arresting images, such as a split screen between Jared Leto's burglar character and the elevator holding his prey. Fincher keeps the nightmarish scenario moving at a breathless pace.
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" — "Be Whoever You Want to Be"
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmicfGmQZ9s&w=500&h=315] As the title character grows younger in this montage, Fincher makes a striking stylistic choice, adding pockmarks to the film — signs of aging that Benjamin Button doesn't show. As Benjamin tells his love, "Be whoever you want to be," you can see Fincher doing exactly that, shedding his edgy persona and moving onto gentler, sentimental ground.