Fight Club (1999)

Edward Norton has no family or close friends but he has a well-paid job and a pile of material possessions in an apartment which looks like an advertisement.

This is the basis of his malaise. He is fed up with conformity and consumer culture. Pairing up with an unusual, charismatic character called Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), he sets up a new club where like-minded young men relieve their ennui by beating each other to a pulp.

Fincher's other notable films include The Game, Se7en and Panic Room. In each, he depicts a gothic vision, posing uncomfortable questions at the margins of civilised behaviour. Although much of Fight Club is written in bold strokes with some brutal violence, it is as much about seizing control of life as it is about the purifying capacity of pain.

If films such as The Rock and Pearl Harbor represent the glossy façade of modern Hollywood film-making, this is the dark side, with claws and a plot to gnaw at your insides. Fantastic.