Se7en
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- For the singer, see SE7EN (singer).
| Se7en | |
|---|---|
 IMDB 8.5/10 (117,850 votes) top 250: #39 | |
| Directed by | David Fincher |
| Produced by | Arnold Kopelson |
| Written by | Andrew Kevin Walker |
| Starring | Brad Pitt Morgan Freeman Gwyneth Paltrow John C. McGinley |
| Music by | Howard Shore |
| Cinematography | Darius Khondji |
| Editing by | Richard Francis-Bruce |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | September 22, 1995 <ref name="imdb">Se7en at the Internet Movie Database</ref> |
| Running time | 127 min. |
| Budget | $30,000,000<ref name="imdb" /> |
| IMDb profile | |
Se7en (also known as Seven) is a 1995 English language film directed by David Fincher. The story is about two detectives, one new to the district and one about to retire, investigating a series of ritualistic murders inspired by the seven deadly sins. Over the course of the investigation the two try to track down the killer through the bleak streets of the rain-soaked city that is the backdrop of the story. The film was written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It starred Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as the detectives.
Walker received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Film editor Richard Francis-Bruce was nominated for an Academy Award for Film Editing, and Director of Photography Darius Khondji's extensive use of bleach bypass film processing has since been noted as a major influence on contemporary cinematographic technique, especially in the late 1990s.<ref>http://www.showreel.org/memberarea/article.php?174</ref> The film was given an MTV Movie Award as best movie.
Tagline: Long is the way, and hard, that out of hell leads up to light.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Brad Pitt | Detective David Mills |
| Morgan Freeman | Detective Lt. William Somerset |
| Kevin Spacey | John Doe |
| Gwyneth Paltrow | Tracy Mills |
| R. Lee Ermey | Police Captain |
| John C. McGinley | California |
[edit] Plot
The story unfolds in an unspecified but very large American city<ref>The explicit identification of the film's setting are the words ("Bardach County Jail") stenciled on the back of the killer's orange jumpsuit after he is booked for the first five murders he commits and the appearance of the Chester Williams Bldg (LA)</ref>. The city is rainy, and from comments made by Det. Somerset (played by Freeman), it is an almost dystopian setting, exhibiting all the worst aspects of urban life — crime, congestion, inner-city decay, with rampant depravity, avarice, and generally inimical conduct. Somerset is preparing to retire from police work after many grueling and unpleasant years of dealing with the destitution and apathy bred within the grimy and forlorn city. In his last week, he is partnered with Detective Mills (Pitt), an idealistic and much less experienced detective who just transferred into the department from somewhere outside the metropolis. The two men are at odds with each other almost immediately; Mills is brash, temperamental, and lets his anger get the better of him, in stark contrast to Somerset's analytical and introspective personality and methods.
[edit] Gluttony
Their first assignment together is at a crime scene in a filthy, cockroach-infested apartment in which an obese man lies dead, face-down in a bowl of spaghetti. He is bound with barbed wire at his ankles and wrists, and there is a bucket of vomit under the table. The pathologist later verifies that the man was force-fed an enormous quantity of food, then kicked in the side. This caused his stomach to split and led to an internal hemorrhage that brought on his demise. The first piece of evidence that leads Somerset to believe they are after a killer with a plan is Somerset's discovery of two shopping receipts, indicating that the killer had risked leaving and returning to the apartment to get more food for the forced feeding.
[edit] Greed
Somerset voices his doubts to their captain about Mills' readiness to handle the gluttony case, and the next day Mills takes on a new case, the gruesome murder of a prominent lawyer named Eli Gould. Gould was made to excise a pound of his own flesh, a reference to a demand made by Shylock from The Merchant of Venice; written on the floor in Gould's blood is the word GREED.
Meanwhile, Somerset, puzzled by curled linoleum shavings found in the first victim's stomach, returns to the apartment where the first murder was committed. The strips turn out to be a clue to grooves on the kitchen floor indicating the refrigerator had been moved. Somerset pulls it away from the wall and finds GLUTTONY written in grease. He begins to suspect that the two crimes are related, and tells Mills and the captain that there will likely be five more murders, each patterned after one of the remaining five of the seven deadly sins.
Mills' wife Tracy (played by Paltrow) invites Somerset to their new house for a late supper. That same evening, Somerset and Mills, once again working together, find a large set of fingerprints and handprints at the site of Gould's murder which spell out "HELP ME"; the prints, hidden behind a painting which Mrs. Gould notices has been turned upside-down, belong to a known sexual predator and drug dealer, but the following morning, as the task force prepares to storm the offender's residence, Somerset is already sure that he is not the person for whom they are looking.
[edit] Sloth
Somerset is proved right when the man is found tied to his bed, alive but suffering from severe mental and physical deterioration after spending a year completely immobile. Somerset once again voices concern that they stand little chance of catching the cold-blooded, calculating killer, who over the course of a year photographed the victim's face dozens of times as he deteriorated. The killer also manipulated the evidence the detectives collected to ensure that they discovered his victim exactly one year after he rendered him immobile. The perpetrator severed his hand, which explains how the victim's prints turned up at the scene of the lawyer's murder. The word SLOTH is written in excrement on the wall above the victim's bed, the third victim in three days.
Tracy privately reveals to Somerset that she is pregnant and desires to be a mother, but is not sure bringing a child into this city would be wise. Somerset tells her he was faced with the same decision earlier in his life and convinced his girlfriend to have an abortion. Somerset says that although he is intellectually certain that he made the right decision (to not bring a child into such a gloomy world), he nonetheless has deeply regretted that decision ever since. He advises Tracy to never let Mills know she was pregnant, if she chooses not to give birth.
With the investigation going nowhere, Somerset pays a contact in the FBI to print out the list of names on the government database of "flagged" library books, books in which Somerset's research indicates the killer would be interested. Through the list, they come up with a list of possible matches, one of which is named "Jonathan Doe" (a variant of the John Doe name used for anonymous crime victims). When they visit Doe's apartment, Doe arrives, and from down a hall sees them at his door. Doe opens fire at them, then leads them on a lengthy chase through a labyrinth of tenement buildings. During the pursuit Mills is injured by Doe, due to a crowbar hitting his head, and Doe then holds a gun to Mills' head. Doe runs off to the sound of Somerset closing in on him, leaving Mills in the alley.
[edit] Lust
Once the detectives gain access into Doe's apartment, through forced entry, they discover a darkroom (with photographs that prove that Mills had unknowingly confronted the killer earlier), and hundreds of meticulously-kept logs of the killer's thoughts. However, there are no fingerprints, anywhere. Amongst the heap that suggests Jonathan Doe is an obsessive maniac, evidence of possible future victims arises. One of them is a photograph of what seems to be a prostitute.
One of the few concrete pieces of evidence is a receipt from a custom leather fetish shop. The detectives visit the shop, and the shopkeeper gives them a polaroid he took of the custom-made item. The audience is spared the sight of the item, though comments from Somerset are telling enough.
The detectives are soon paged to the site of the next victim (the prostitute). LUST is written on the door of a room; inside the room is the body of the prostitute, the police, and a man seemingly in shock, screaming "get this thing off of me." Back at the station, an interview with the badly shaken man confirms a scenario that the detectives probably pictured as soon as they saw the shopkeeper's polaroid: Doe had forced a man at gunpoint to don the custom-made item (a codpiece with a long blade attached as a pseudo-phallus) and copulate with the bound prostitute to mutilate her vaginal region.
Mills and Somerset later argue in a bar about the value of what they are doing, and Somerset is not convinced that staying on as a policeman would make any difference.
[edit] Pride
A fifth victim turns up the next day after a phone call from John Doe to police headquarters. A model is found dead in her own bedroom. Doe cut off her nose — "to spite her face" — then offered her a choice of living with her disfigurement or suicide, by gluing a bottle of sleeping pills to one hand (from which she could overdose) and a phone to the other (to call for help). By choosing suicide, she accedes to the sin of PRIDE, which is written in blood (or lipstick) on the headboard of the bed.
Mills and Somerset return to police headquarters, where they are confronted by a man whose hands and shirt are covered in blood. This man is soon confirmed to be Doe (Kevin Spacey). During his processing and interrogation, it is discovered that Doe regularly cuts the skin off his fingertips, which explains the lack of fingerprints in his apartment.
Through his lawyer, Doe offers to confess to all of the murders, but only if he is allowed to escort the detectives to a scene where Doe says two more bodies will be found. Refusal of this offer, Doe's attorney threatens, will lead to a plea of insanity. Mills decides he wants the full confession.
Before detective Mills and Somerset escort Doe to the next two bodies, they're both seen, in what appears to be the police station's restroom, shaving their chest of any hair so they can easily tape wires to their bare chests. During this scene, Mills mentions his wife, but doesn't follow through with what he was going to say, and he walks away, leaving Somerset by himself. It's not said or suggested what Mills was going to say, but by Somerset's silence, it's alluded that it involved the knowledge of Tracy's pregnancy.
On the way to the location of the final two bodies, Doe extensively alludes to the greatness of his achievement, and seems particularly preoccupied with Detective Mills. He offers reasons as to why he has committed the heinous murders, and, in one of the film's most startling moments, explains that in order to arouse a heightened consciousness in the desensitised, amoral people of today, one cannot expect to "tap them on the shoulder and have them listen," but rather, "hit them with a sledge hammer."
[edit] Envy & Wrath
When they arrive at Doe's prearranged location, dry and desert-like with rows of electrical transmission towers, a delivery van soon arrives. Somerset stops the van several hundred yards from their location and confronts the driver, who says that he was to deliver a box to their location. The box is addressed to Mills, but Somerset decides to open it. He recoils from the box in horror, and yells to Mills, who is struggling to ignore Doe's comments, to put his gun down and to not come near the box.
As Somerset runs back to Mills and Doe, Doe reveals to Mills that he had visited Tracy after Mills left for work and tried to "play husband." The independently wealthy Doe envied the fruits of a common man's life and is thus guilty of ENVY. Doe discloses that he killed Tracy, then adds, "I took a souvenir...her pretty head."
As Somerset returns, Mills comprehends Doe's implication. Desperate for a reason not to believe Doe's claims, Mills repeatedly demands that Somerset reveal what was in the box. Somerset's refusal to directly answer the question leaves Mills with little doubt as to the contents of the box and the truth of Doe's words. Doe then taunts Mills when he realizes that Mills was unaware of Tracy's pregnancy.
Enraged, horrified, and grief-stricken, Mills dramatically contemplates killing Doe. Somerset tries to stop him, arguing that Doe's revelations only stand if he is killed for his sin of Envy and if Mills is the one who kills him and so becomes the embodiment of WRATH. "If you kill him, he will win," says Somerset. However, the distraught and emotional Mills shoots Doe in the head, empties his gun into Doe's body, and, from the viewpoint of the helicopter watching them, is shown walking away from Somerset and Doe's corpse in the direction of the box.
In the final scene, Mills is driven away in a police cruiser, while the captain assures Somerset that Mills will be taken care of. Somerset offers that if Mills needs anything, Somerset will want to help. However, given Somerset's impending retirement, the captain is unsure how he would contact Somerset if need be. The captain asks, "Where are you going to be?" Somerset wearily replies, "I'll be around," suggesting that he will not go through with his long-awaited retirement.
The film concludes when, in voice-over, with sirens wailing in the background, Somerset explains, "Ernest Hemingway once wrote: 'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part."
[edit] Alternate endings
An early version of the script features a completely different ending in which Doe's visiting and killing Tracy does not occur. Instead there is a final confrontation between Doe and Mills and Somerset. Doe kills Mills, and in his rage, Somerset acts out the sin of wrath, taking brutal vengeance upon Doe. Somerset shoots Doe not to kill, but rather to inflict maximum pain, shooting Doe in each arm and each leg. As Doe writhes in agony, Somerset sets Doe ablaze and lets him burn alive.
In this version of the script, the film ends again suggesting that Somerset will not retire after all. Instead, the now-widowed Tracy moves away to have her baby and try to find the kind of life to which Somerset had envisioned himself retiring. He symbolically passes what had been his vision of his future on to her.
The special edition of the DVD makes clear that other endings were considered also. An unfilmed alternate ending features Somerset shooting John Doe in an act of self-sacrifice to save Mills. When Mills yells "What are you doing?" Somerset says, "I'm retiring."
On the DVD commentary, Fincher states that once the desired resolution to the Doe/Mills/Somerset confrontation was settled upon, the film was then to end immediately after Mills shot Doe — the final camera shots being the scene of the crime seen from the helicopter. However, in the end the additional scene was added with Mills being driven off and Somerset indicating that he would not retire after all.
[edit] Origins and look
In an interview with Cinefantastique magazine, Andrew Kevin Walker stated that the primary influence for the film's screenplay came from his time spent in New York City while trying to make it as a screenwriter. "I didn't like my time in New York, but it's true that if I hadn't lived there I probably wouldn't have written Se7en."
The urban sprawl filled with crowded, noisy denizens while an oppressive rain always seems to fall without respite was an integral part of the film, as Fincher wanted to show a city that was "dirty, violent, polluted, often depressing. Visually and stylistically, that's how we wanted to portray this world. Everything needed to be as authentic and raw as possible."
To this end, Fincher turned to production designer Arthur Max to create a dismal world that often eerily mirrors its inhabitants. "We created a setting that reflects the moral decay of the people in it," says Max. "Everything is falling apart, and nothing is working properly." The film's brooding, dark look was also created through a unique chemical process whereby the silver in the film stock was re-bonded which in turn deepened the dark, shadowy images in the film and increased its overall tonal quality.
[edit] Religious imagery
A movie that deals heavily with religious themes, the movie is rife with Christian imagery, specifically crosses which are prominently displayed in many parts of the movie:
- The Pride murder victim is in a Cruciform position, with wrappings around her head and objects placed in each of her hands
- The power lines where the film's climax occurs.
- The large illuminated cross above John Doe's bed in his apartment
- The power lines in front of the Gluttony murder's apartment.
There are also several angelic statues prominently displayed.
[edit] Comic
A series of comic books are currently being produced by Zenescope Entertainment that are meant as a sort of backstory to the movie. Each of the seven comics will focus on one of the victims of John Doe, including what the victim was going through before they were killed. The first of these comics deals with the 'fat man' and the sin of gluttony. An interview with the writer of this comic and samples of the first pages of the comic can be found here.
[edit] Trivia
- Screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker reveals his source for the name of Lt. William Somerset during the scene in which Somerset and Mills research library books. One of the books they explicitly mention is Of Human Bondage, the best known work of William Somerset Maugham.
- Kevin Spacey refused billing for the movie, and his name does not appear in the opening credits. He claimed that he does not want people to wait to see him in the movie, preferring his part in the film to be a total and complete surprise to add suspense.
- R. Lee Ermey, who plays the police captain, originally auditioned for the part of John Doe.
- The scenes in the apartment complex where Mills and Somerset first encounter John Doe were shot on location at the run-down yet historically significant Alexandria Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. During its heyday, the hotel was a favorite haunt of Charlie Chaplin among other Hollywood notables. Somerset is shown leaving the Chester Williams Building.
- The injury suffered by Mills in the pursuit of Doe was added to the story after Brad Pitt injured himself attempting a stunt in the scene.
- In a deleted scene from the PRIDE sequence, Doe wrote in blood "I did not kill her. I gave her a choice" on a wall leading to the bedroom where the victim was found.
- One version of the script contained a few scenes following the final confrontation between the detectives and John Doe. In one Somerset is in the hospital recovering from being shot by Mills and the captain delivers him a letter from Mills which reads, "You were right. You were right about everything."
- Shortly before shooting John Doe, a flash of Mills' wife's face appears on screen. David Fincher used this technique in Fight Club as well.
- Somerset's badge number is 714, the same badge number as Sgt. Joe Friday in the television series Dragnet.
- David Mills only fires his gun seven times in the entire movie: once in the scene when he talks with William Somerset, and six times into John Doe. While chasing John Doe through the apartments, he does not fire his gun.
- Other uses of the number 7 abound in the film including all of the buildings in the opening scene starting with 7, and the delivery in the movie's climax being scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
- Though Kevin Spacey did a large amount of research for his role in the film, he said Anthony Hopkins' performance in The Silence of the Lambs also inspired his own acting.
- The closing credits of the movie (over which David Bowie's song "The Hearts Filthy Lesson" can be heard) scroll down from the top of the screen rather than in the opposite direction as is common in most films.
- At the time in which the movie takes place, the list of flagged library books Somerset obtains from his FBI contact violated civil liberties and due process (which is why the exchange of the information takes place secretly and Mills later bribes a witness to construct a story about how they found Doe's apartment). After 2002, the USA Patriot Act made it legal for agencies to compile such lists to investigate suspects.
- The words "Bardach County Jail" appear on the back of the killer's orange jumpsuit. Elinor Bardach is the movie's costume supervisor.
- David Fincher appears in at the end of the foot chase where John Doe catches Mills in an alley at gunpoint from Mills' point-of-view. Fincher couldn't get the angle right and he's holding the gun wearing the trenchcoat.
- Excluding the final murder by Mills, none of the murder victims are killed onscreen.
- There is a deleted scene from the opening of the film with Somerset purchasing a house in the country. He uses his switchblade to cut a swatch of wallpaper. This is what he shows Tracy in the dinner sequence, which makes little sense without the deleted scene in place.
- New Line developed a serial killer screenplay called Solace which they intended to turn into a pseudo-sequel. This idea was abandoned.
- It is raining throughout the course of the movie until the killer turns himself in.
[edit] References in popular culture
- The Lemonheads released a song called "6ix" on their 1996 album, Car Button Cloth. The lyrics "here comes Gwynneth's head in a box" make explicit reference to the film.
- Audio clips from the movie are used in the Velvet Acid Christ song "Phucking Phreak", as well as in the underground rap song "3hree6ix5ive" by Skam and Eminem.
- The film is said to have had a huge influence on the Tamil movie Anniyan in which a man with multiple personality disorder kills sinners according to how they will be punished in hell. [1]
- A live recording of "Sugar Coated Sour" from New Jersey tech metal outfit The Dillinger Escape Plan's self-titled album includes audio clips from the end of the film.
- A mention of the film was in a FoxTrot strip, where Paige, upon returning from the movie store, says "Aaah! I ordered Pocahontas and they gave me Seven! Instead of the nice musical I wanted they gave me this violent, gory thing starring hunky Brad Pitt! Oh well, I guess I'll force myself to watch it.." and the mother replies "Some of the best acting goes on outside Hollywood."
- The band Blood Has Been Shed references Se7en with its song entitled "Call Waiting (John Doe has the Upper Hand)", which is said by Somerset after he opens the package meant for Mills.
- In the film The Butterfly Effect the main three characters go to the cinema to see Se7en when they are 13. One of the character makes several rude comments about characters in the film, such as comparing the first victim's obesity to the mother of one of his friends.
- During the lunch scene with Somerset and Tracy, her quote "I hate this city" is used by Every Time I Die in their song "Emergency Broadcast Syndrome".
- Rap Group Jedi Mind Tricks sample a line of the movie in the beginning of their song "The Winds of War," off of their album The Psycho-Social, Chemical, Biological & Electro-Magnetic Manipulation of Human Consciousness. The line they sample is John Doe (Kevin Spacey) saying: "I'm setting the example, and what I've done is gonna be puzzled over and studied, and followed, forever."
- Rapper Apathy references Se7en in the song Playing With Fire when he says, "You'd better go watch / The movie Se7en, cause you'll find your wifey's head in a box".
[edit] Soundtrack
The opening credit music is a spliced sample of an uncredited remix of the Nine Inch Nails song "Closer" by Coil, available as "Closer (precursor)" on the "Closer" single. The song during the end credits is David Bowie's song "The Hearts Filthy Lesson". The film's original score is by Howard Shore.
- "In the Beginning" - The Statler Brothers
- "Guilty" - Gravity Kills
- "Trouble Man" - Marvin Gaye
- "Speaking of Happiness" - Gloria Lynne
- "Suite No. 3 in D Major", BWV 1068 "Air" - written by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Stuttgarter Kammerorchester / Karl Münchinger
- "Love Plus One" - Haircut 100
- "I Cover the Waterfront" - Billie Holiday
- "Now's the Time" - Charlie Parker
- "Straight, No Chaser" - Thelonious Monk
- "Portrait of John Doe" - Howard Shore
- "Suite from Seven" - Howard Shore
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
| Films directed by David Fincher |
|---|
| Alien³ • Se7en • The Game • Fight Club • Panic Room • Zodiac |
es:Seven fa:هفت (فیلم) fr:Se7en ko:세븐 id:Seven (film) it:Seven he:שבעה חטאים (סרט) nl:Se7en ja:セブン (映画) no:Se7en pl:Siedem (film) pt:Se7en ru:Семь (фильм) sq:Se7en fi:Seitsemän (elokuva) sv:Seven tr:Seven (film) zh:七宗罪 (電影)
