Items | Remembering “Fight Club,” one of David Fincher’s most popular films

Gentlemen: welcome to Fight Club.

To say that David Fincher is a genius is to fall into as much redundancy as possible within the film industry. During his career, the filmmaker has produced incredible works, such as ‘Zodiac’, ‘Se7en – The Seven Capital Crimes’ and ‘The Social Network’, in addition to venturing into the serial format with ‘House of Cards’ and ‘Mindhunter’. However, there is perhaps no other work as irreverent and controversial as ‘Clube da Luta’, a story that crosses all aspects of the contemporary dialogic system from a completely original and dynamic perspective – a hallmark of the director himself. -same.

Restricting this incredible feature film to just one genre is a tricky thing to do, especially when looking at the multiple and complex layers that make up the microcosmic architecture we’re looking at. The narrative revolves around two characters – one cleverly titled just The Narrator (Edward Norton), and another who goes by the name of Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). After meeting in an unlikely situation involving a robbery and coming to terms with their fates in situations of impending chaos, the two eventually reunite and form a group that lends its name to the film’s title: Fight Club.

Rule #01: Don’t talk about Fight Club. Rule #2: Don’t talk about Fight Club.

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To understand the visceral series of events that unfold after the protagonists’ partnership, we must understand that, like the architecture of the film itself, both are irreverent and represent a sudden break from the stereotypes that have become entrenched in modern society. The Storyteller suffers from insomnia and is desperate to get out of his rut ​​in order to get a wink of sleep at night, as his doctor refuses to give him pills and advises him to “exercise” for a better life. However, he knows that’s not what he needs – he needs a comfort that frees him from a possible cage still misunderstood by the public. This need to express himself and to feel part of something emerges in the many support groups he begins to attend – Alcoholics Anonymous, Testicular Cancer, Compulsive Buyers, among others -, pretending to have countless traumas to be able to share with his new “friends”.

Whether we like it or not, he ends up plunging into a comfort zone that allows him to evacuate the frustrations of everyday life, until another figure comes to disturb his “reign”: Marla Singer (the always welcome Helena Bonham Carter, in her best attempt to lose her thick British accent). Marla, like him, is looking for ways to kill time, and the two seem to compete for the attention they receive from the bands members. However, she is far more daring and rebellious than her accomplice, never caring what others think and living at the expense of codes of conduct.

It’s incredible and at the same time congruous to what extent the fate of the three characters goes in the same direction. Their distinct and paradoxically almost symbiotic personalities are the main basis for the search for something that allows the human being – a system-created carcass, as Tyler says – to vent all the frustrations they have been carrying since the day of its birth and to recreate itself, increasing its resilience in the face of obstacles and always in search of a “chaotic order” that goes against the ephemeral social peace. It is from there that Fight Club emerges and establishes itself as a promising cult that spreads to several cities in the United States, recruiting countless members eager to find themselves in the midst of the daily castration they suffer. Marla, although not a member of the group, can be understood as the summit to be reached, since she lives her life without rules, but with ideals imposed by herself.

“I wanted to destroy something beautiful.” This sentence, uttered by the Narrator at a given moment, is the harbinger of a free fall which symbolizes the failures of the search for full freedom. One of the rules of participating in the club is to understand when it’s time to quit – in case your opponent passes out or gives up. Norton’s character is pushed to the limit by his partner’s extreme rebelliousness, and he takes that growing angst out of the ring, literally smashing Angel Face’s (Jared Leto) face even after he deems him the winner. . “Destroying something beautiful” not only stays at the primary level, but abstracts from the decaying concept of what they have created. After all, à la “Frankenstein’s Monster,” the duo’s utopian idea seemed free from imperfections on paper, but turned out to be dangerous and hopeless, especially since Tyler had ulterior motives while recruiting his ” soldiers”.

“Fight Club” is an extremely metalinguistic film. Whether it’s Norton’s blasé storytelling or the unusual fourth wall breaking, the narrative develops similarly to “Citizen Kane”, creating its own timeline that speaks to its viewer, while providing understandable logic. . The editing is not only concerned with keeping the classic cut-out, but with using its elements to transgress it, in particular with the juxtaposition of shots in different places, but which retain the same identity. Fincher also adds his touch with the many long shots that scrutinize the 150 minutes of narrative, providing an expanded perspective on the claustrophobic locations.

The fighters’ “meetings” take place in the basement of a ramshackle bar, not much larger than the living room of a townhouse. The camera movement and the aesthetic design, which mix open and closed shots, have a beauty that transcends the narrative universe and transports the viewer to a unique experience. In addition, the architecture of the imagery is dark, with a play of light that highlights the outlines of the characters, gives them individuality (especially in the first act), but which gradually blends them into the scenarios. dirty and devoured, making a mass of beings who fight for the same ideal. And the most ironic thing is that Tyler, the great designer, always adorns himself with flashy colors – red, pink or orange – to stand out from the crowd while reaffirming his egalitarian discourse.

“Fight Club” is a drama. A comedy. A satire, an originality of cinematographic narrative that manages to mix different opposing genres in a visceral masterpiece that certainly does not care about what it shows, but about the multiplicity of reactions and reflections to be carried out by the public. . I cannot say that there is a fixed completeness and comprehension in this account, because with each new approach other possibilities of interpretation open up – and, well, it is not for nothing that it’s a Fincher film (irreverence itself).

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