Question about the ending to Gone Girl (2014) SPOILERS

I had trouble believing that Nick would choose to stay with Amy and raise a child that he didn't even confirm was his before choosing to do so.

I was wondering, why didn't Nick just go to the press and tell the world that Amy murdered Desi, made it look like self defense and that she told him she had done so, and that she told him that her kidnapping was all a ruse?

Why didn't he just do that and try to leave her that way, rather than stay?

Seriously....you missed the whole point of the ending.


Her trump card was the baby, now could he just wait and deal with the extortion from Amy...possibly but he's not going to know that the baby is his for months. Also while Nick was the protagonist he wasn't a "good guy" he did cheat on Amy which was the impetus for her actions any road he decides to go down in that situation is going to be misery for him.

Oh yeah for sure, I just didn't think Nick would still want to be with her, even if he was punishing himself for cheating on her, if that was the case?

You also realize that if he turns her in she can have an abortion and he'll never know if it's his child that was dead also. Pretty good motivation in my eyes.

But if she will want to make herself look like an innocent victim to the public who was kidnapped by Desi and had to kill him in self defense. If she escapes and goes back to her husband, then announces to the media that she is pregant with her husband's child, then her husband accuses her of murdering Desi and saying it was all a set up... if she were to abort the baby at this point just to spite her husband's accusations, it will make her look a lot worse to the public, which she does not want, would she?

Literally everything you asked is directly addressed in what she says to him at the end of the film, IIRC.

That's not much consolation to him. It's called Mutually Assured Destruction, dude.

Wouldn't the destruction be towards her more, and her publicly loved celebrity status if she does it?

He's got that celebrity status now too though. He's been proven innocent by her return so really, he can do no wrong through the media now who love a redemption story. I don't think his character would want to ruin that status especially knowing that he has a sort of leverage over her. As long as they both play their parts then they can both take some superficial advantage of the situation.

She goes to prison or more likely a mental asylum because what she did was crazy. Meanwhile the divorce and trial could completely ruin him after being financially ruined earlier on. Everything she did pretty much tracks I think you should be less focused on Nick's psychology.

Well it just seems like staying with the crazy sociopath like her is the worst option possible, so I am wondering why he would choose the worst option possible, instead of something not as bad. If he chooses to stay, who knows what other demands or double crosses, she will put over him.

Because Nick is the sociopath, Amy is the psychopath and this is the best option for both of them.

Oh okay, how was Nick a sociopath though?

Nick didn't have a conscience, he cheated on Amy he didn't know how to normally react when she went missing, he slept with his student.


Amy was a psychopath because her sociopathology manifested itself into physically hurting other people. Her issues were environmental, first being raised as a tool by her parents to be a D-list celebrity and then having her money and lifestyle taken away from her.


Nick staying with Amy because of the child is also indicative of his own narcissism.

Oh okay, I thought Nick was just flummoxed of the whole situation and his emotions were buried within, but I can watch it again, and see.

Well I also read the book and you can do that as well

Oh okay, never read the book and was just going by the movie's directing and acting .

So Nick didn't want any harm to come to the baby, which is why he stayed with her, but if after the baby is born, and then not being able to get an abortion, would he leave her then?

Maybe who knows, the point of the book is to get to know the two different characters. One of the big themes in the book is the unreliable narrator.

The goal is to not have his life potentially ruined, not to have it ruined less than hers. That's what Mutually Assured Destruction means.

Oh okay, I thought that staying with her would ruin his life even more, compared to if he left though.