Se7en (1995)

Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi.

Director:

David Fincher

Writer:

Andrew Kevin Walker

Stars:

Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow

Top 250 #22 | Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 25 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brad Pitt	...	Detective David Mills
Morgan Freeman	...	Detective Lt. William Somerset
Gwyneth Paltrow	...	Tracy Mills
R. Lee Ermey	...	Police Captain
Andrew Kevin Walker	...	Dead Man (as Andy Walker)
Daniel Zacapa	...	Detective Taylor
John Cassini	...	Officer Davis
Bob Mack	...	Gluttony Victim
Peter Crombie	...	Dr. O'Neill
Reg E. Cathey	...	Coroner (as Reginald E. Cathey)
George Christy	...	Workman
Endre Hules	...	Cab Driver
Hawthorne James	...	George, Library Night Guard
William Davidson	...	Library Guard (as Roscoe Davidson)
Bob Collins	...	Library Guard

Storyline

A film about two homicide detectives' desperate hunt for a serial killer who justifies his crimes as absolution for the world's ignorance of the Seven Deadly Sins. The movie takes us from the tortured remains of one victim to the next as the sociopathic "John Doe" sermonizes to Detectives Sommerset and Mills -- one sin at a time. The sin of Gluttony comes first and the murderer's terrible capacity is graphically demonstrated in the dark and subdued tones characteristic of film noir. The seasoned and cultured but jaded Sommerset researches the Seven Deadly Sins in an effort to understand the killer's modus operandi while the bright but green and impulsive Detective Mills scoffs at his efforts to get inside the mind of a killer...

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Plot Keywords:

detective | seven deadly sins | serial killer | john doe | gluttony | 

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Taglines:

Long is the way, and hard, that out of hell leads up to light.

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for grisly afterviews of horrific and bizarre killings, and for strong language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 September 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Seven

Filming Locations:

Pacific Electric Building, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$33,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£11,434,343 (UK) (19 January 1996)

Gross:

£19,234,230 (UK) (15 March 1996)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cecchi Gori Pictures, New Line Cinema

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

David Cronenberg was offered a chance to direct this but he turned it down.

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Goofs

When Dective Mills shoots John after the first shot the slide locks back indicating the gun is empty, then he begins shooting again but doesn't reload or cycle the slide

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Quotes

[first lines]
Detective Taylor: Neighbors heard them screaming at each other, like for two hours, and it was nothing new. Then they heard the gun go off, both barrels. Crime of passion.
William Somerset: Yeah, just look at all the passion on that wall.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits are done over broken, blurred images of John Doe removing the skin from his fingertips and sewing it into his journals.

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Connections

Referenced in Bones: The Past in the Present (2012)

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Soundtracks

"Love Plus One"
Performed by Haircut 100
Written by Nick Heyward
Courtesy of BMG Records (UK) Ltd./Arista Records, Inc.

User Reviews

Somerset's World

Seldom does a film elucidate the culpability of our culture,of our society, in the mayhem and madness we often find in everyday life. According to Se7en, our culture is drifting through darkness. The mouthpiece for this thematic undercurrent is Somerset, a literate man who also happens to be a detective, a man who can read a clue ("This isn't going to be a happy ending") or Dante's Inferno with equal aplomb. He even provides the film's final thematic statement with a quote from Hemingway. His quirkiness, perhaps the outgrowth of a brilliant mind, is no worse than that of any prophet or seer of old, those harbingers of Biblical insight whom others always find kooky and offbeat. He is not well loved for his cynical, pessimistic outlook (such that his consuming motivation is to retire and get out of town). However, by the end it becomes clear that it is Somerset who sees our dark world with the prophet's particular clarity. (It is left to his partner Mills to find this out the hard way).

Working on us to reinforce this world as Somerset sees it is the film's astounding mise-en-scene, a disturbing film-noir setting developed by director David Fincher and cinematographer Darius Khondji. Flashlights barely illuminate the slimy walls of the roach-infested tenement of one victim and the dark bedroom of another. Rain pours down in buckets. Bird's-eye-view shots of downtown (the city is never named- a generic, everyman's kind of place) show dingy, sooty rooftops and grimy streets. Only the film's closing scene is in bright sunlight, which by then only serves as ironic counterpoint to what we see happening.

This is Somerset's vision; both inhabited and described by him. He finds a surprising fellow traveler in, not his partner, but the elusive killer John Doe. Doe shares the vision and provides an unsettling echo to the rumblings and teachings of Somerset. If one looks at life through the Somerset lens, one must admit that John Doe has a valid point. He and Somerset have arrived at the same conclusion, the difference between them being how they have responded. (Somerset longs to escape to some otherworldly realm in the country. Doe has taken action.)

Though gripping and fast moving, this is not an action film. It holds our interest through the workings of horror and mystery: a stark, film-noir detective piece. Except for one tense pursuit through halls and alleys in pouring rain, as well as the bit of ending action, there is surprisingly little violence. We see each murder, save two, after the fact, as a crime scene. This only makes the final act that much more suspenseful.

This is a very tight film. Elements within: dialogue, actions, lighting, setting, all of these tend to reinforce one another to paint a solid picture. It is a perverse logic that makes the final and seventh sin complete perfectly the circle of events begun with the first.