by David Fincher (2014)
A critical summary by Salma ZREOUIL and Juliette VABRES
Summary :
Nick and Amy are a young couple who met in New York City at a social gathering. They moved to Missouri because Nick’s mother was seriously ill. They will live there for 2 years. During their 5th year of marriage Nick does not find his wife when he returns home. He finds the living room in a mess, finds it suspicious and calls the police. As the investigation progresses, clues are scattered all over town, as Emy had organized a treasure hunt for their anniversary. We learn that she was in a saint’s habit and that her Nick was beating her. The investigators are asking a lot of questions and there is every indication that Nick is the number one suspect, and that he killed his wife. In the course of the film, we have the vision of Amy’s diary, and Nick’s point of view, who discovers as the viewer does the facts as he goes along.
We then discover that Amy is not dead and that it is she who organized everything: murder, diary, Nick’s expenses. to punish her husband for his infidelity, and have him imprisoned. We realize that she really wants to destroy those who tarnish her image as an ideal couple. We learn that she accused her ex-boyfriend of being a rapist just because he wanted to distance himself from her and that he couldn’t stand to be the boyfriend she dreams of. Her plan goes according to plan, but she makes a mistake that leads her to recontact her ex-boyfriend, who had attempted suicide to get her back years before, and who kept sending her letters and is very possessive. She fakes a rape to get out of it and kills her ex. She comes back to Nick’s house with blood everywhere and looks traumatized. She explains that this ex had kidnapped and raped her for 30 days.
Nick realizes the deception and no longer wants to live with a manipulative, psychopathic woman and wants to leave her. But she makes him understand that his life will collapse if he doesn’t play the perfect husband. She is going to turn everything against him again, until she tells him that she is pregnant with him. So Nick has to choose: between execution and living with a manipulative woman. He decides to stay for the child they are going to have, with the support of his twin sister.
Psychological analysis of Amy :
When we analyse Amy’s personality and want to understand why she is manipulative, we can think that she has a personality disorder, particularly a narcissistic personality, which is defined by the DSM V (2013) as “a general pattern of grandiose fantasies or behaviours, need to be admired and lack of empathy that appear in early adulthood and are present in a variety of contexts, as evidenced by at least five of the manifestations” that we will describe later in presenting her profile.
Amy is a woman who grew up in a comfortable New York City community with writer parents. They have written a series of children’s books, “Amazing Amy”. This book is inspired by their daughter’s life, but with a romantic and imaginative touch. Amy finds herself faced with the perfection of the book’s Amy, is jealous of it, envies it very much and wants to follow in its footsteps. As she explains, the Amy of the book is always one step ahead of her, she wants to be as perfect in her life as she is. Everyone has grown up with and loves “Amazing Amy”. This may be similar to symptom 8 of narcissistic personality disorder in the DSM V, which is defined as often envying others, and believing that others are envious of her. She envies others for having a normal life and thinks others envy her because “Amazing Amy” is inspired by her.
Amy is a very demanding person, Nick describes her as someone who has no friends because she has a “New York personality”, unfriendly, distant, haughty and complicated. Even Nick’s sister has never really appreciated her because of her arrogant and always unsatisfied position. This may be akin to symptom 9 of the narcissistic personality in the DSM V, which is exhibiting arrogant and haughty attitudes and behaviors.
As the film progresses, we learn that Amy feels that her husband only gives her enough importance that she deserves, that she is superior to him intellectually and financially, and above all that he should never have dared to cheat on her and desire someone other than her. She considers herself magnificent and admirable by all. This is similar to symptom 1 of the narcissistic personality of the DSM V, which is that the subject has a grandiose sense of his own importance (e.g. overestimates his achievements and abilities, expects to be recognized as superior without having accomplished something related).
The policewoman defines her as a Type A personality. This type of personality is characterized by the following traits: commitment, hyperactivity, irritability, ambition, aggressiveness, impatience, urgency and competitiveness. These characteristics make the Type A personality more vulnerable to stress (Friedman & Rosenman, 1974). In fact, Amy is someone who likes to show that she can do many things, she has several degrees from Harvard University and Yalensis. This character trait can also be seen in her way of looking at life and always wanting to do things big, especially with the treasure hunt she prepares every year for their wedding anniversary, which her husband doesn’t like. This can also be related to symptom 3 of the narcissistic personality of the DSM V, which is to think of oneself as special, unique, understood only by high level people or institutions. Moreover, when they moved to Missouria, she felt completely out of place, she felt out of place and where she had no intellectual stimulation, no projects. She even defines her neighbors as brain-dead. She only wants to be with people of her intellectual level, she even explains that she shaped her husband, sharpened his intelligence and sharpness so that he would be at the same level as her. This is also similar to symptom 1 seen above.
Manipulating a fake murder and doing everything possible to incriminate her husband in order to punish him for his infidelity, goes a long way towards a personality disorder and not just a person with a type A personality. She is even described in the film as a psychopath. Amy has manipulated many of her relationships for her own benefit throughout her life. Whether it’s her neighbors, to give evidence to the fake murder, or her ex-boyfriends. This is similar to symptom 6 of the narcissistic personality of the DSM V, which is to exploit the other in interpersonal relationships and use others to achieve one’s own ends.
We learn that she accused and faked a rape with her second ex-boyfriend because he was becoming distant with her, because she was too present in the relationship to want to handle everything and make everything perfect. He was arrested and charged with sexual assault because of her, but she shows no empathy for him. He can’t even get a job anymore.This reminds us of symptom 7 of the DSM V, which boils down to no empathy, non-recognition or non-sharing of other people’s feelings and needs.
When she see one of her ex-boyfriends again, after faking the murder, she doesn’t hesitate to use him to hide, and to fake evidence that he has kidnapped and raped her. She even goes so far as to kill him, without remorse or empathy. She thinks that everything is due to her, and that this ex owes this sacrifice to her, and that he will immediately respond to her requests and thus make things easier for her. As symptom 5 of narcissistic personality disorder tells us: the person thinks that everything is due to her and expects without reason to receive particularly favourable treatment and that her desires will automatically be satisfied.
This is similar to the relationship she has with Nick, with a couple that she idealizes and wants to be perfect. Symptom 2 of the DSM V defines that the person is absorbed by fantasies of unlimited success, power, splendor, beauty or ideal love. We see it in the way he organizes his wedding anniversaries, with a theme for each year and treasure hunts. She even manipulates Nick at the end of the film, so that he doesn’t leave her, despite everything that may have happened, and remains in front of the audience the ideal couple they were. As if everything could be erased. It also shows a strong need to be admired, which is symptom 4 of the narcissistic personality in the DSM V, and to do everything so that what she wants is realized and her life goes on as she imagined it.
Conclusion :
According to studies, narcissistic personalities are estimated to 1% of the general population and are found at 3% in a clinical population (Yrondi & al., 2015).
In fact, many of the symptoms related to narcissistic personality disorder can be found in Amy’s profile. The narcissistic personality refers to a form of self-esteem that implies greatness, feelings of entitlement, harshness, lack of empathy and a willingness to exploit others (Sauls & al., 2019), which is noticeable in Amy’s relationship with her neighbors and ex-boyfriends. As a result, narcissistic individuals often experience interpersonal difficulties, with these problems frequently extending to their romantic relationships. Narcissistic individuals tend to use their romantic partners to establish, retain and enhance their own positive view of themselves. They also tend to devalue their partners in a variety of ways to maintain their own self-esteem, which is reflected in Amy’s behaviour in manipulating the media to make them think badly of her husband, so that public opinion will be compassionate with her, and have a good opinion of her, by remaining “Amazing Amy” who is brave enough to be married to a bully.
Bibliography :
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders DSM-5 (5e éd.). Arlington, VA : American Psychiatric Publishing.
Friedman, M. (1974). Type A Behavior and Your Heart (1st éd.). Alfred A. Knopf.
Sauls, D., Zeigler-Hill, V., Vrabel, J. K., & Lehtman, M. J. (2019). How do narcissists get what they want from their romantic partners ? The connections that narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry have with influence strategies. Personality and Individual Differences, 147, 33‑42. DOI : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.04.025
Yrondi, A., Rouyre, P., & Schmitt, L. (2015). La personnalité narcissique devient-elle plus fréquente ? Fait culturel ou fait clinique ? Annales Médico-psychologiques, revue psychiatrique, 173(4), 331‑334. DOI :https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amp.2015.03.006
Words we have learned :
- Handle : Manipuler
- A bully : Un tyran
- Sharpened : Amélioré
- Shaped : Façonné
- Dared : A osé