Se7en (1995)

Film: Se7en (1995)

Director: David Fincher

Country: USA

Released: September 1995

Runtime: 127 minutes

Genre: Film Noir

Studio: New Line Cinema

Influenced: Darren Aronofsky, Denis Villeneuve, Nicolas Winding Refn, Lynne Ramsay, James Wan

Se7en was conceived by screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, who wrote the film's screenplay in the early 1990s. The dark and disturbing script was passed around Hollywood and eventually ended up in the hands of David Fincher, who was building a reputation for his work on MTV music videos and his feature-film debut, Alien 3 (1992). Fincher's music video style is evident right away in Se7en's stylish opening credits, which were designed by Kyle Cooper and inspired many film & TV crime drama title sequences, including no doubt those for David Simon's The Wire. The director also called on legendary composer Howard Shore for the film's score, which played a crucial role in establishing the dark and foreboding atmosphere of the film, full of eerie and unsettling sounds, unusual instruments and dissonant chords. Another key stylistic element is Darius Khondji's atmospheric cinematography, characterised by muted colours and rain-soaked streets, to create the film's bleak urban setting.

There’s an element of Gotham about the unnamed city that Fincher conjures up in Se7en, notably during the library scene in which we hear the music of Bach interspersed with shocking images of the murders and Detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) gathering together the works of Dante and other writers. The film follows the story of Detectives Somerset and Mills (Brad Pitt) as they investigate a series of gruesome murders by serial killer, John Doe (Kevin Spacey). As the detectives delve deeper into the case, they uncover a complex web of motives, and the film's use of the seven deadly sins as the thematic underpinning for the murders was a unique and provocative concept. Other elements of the script are more conventional, such as the trope of a detective who plans to do one last pre-retirement assignment but ends up becoming embroiled in a career-defining investigation. Freeman is mesmerising as the experienced and unflappable senior detective paired up with the ambitious young hothead, and outacts Pitt by a country mile, but there’s something oddly charming about Pitt’s performance.

Somerset has become weary of the senseless crime around him, and a key theme of the film is the moral decay of society that he and other characters see all around them. As dark as the film is, there are also moments of light comedy such as Mills getting the Cliff Notes on Dante and Chaucer, and Somerset saying to Mills it's "not what you think" when he reads out the title of Somerset Maugham's work, Of Human Bondage. But overall the tone of the movie is sombre and chilling, and somehow the film and the murder scenes get darker and darker. The discovery of the first murder scene, where the victim's obesity is linked to the sin of gluttony, sets the tone for the movie and it's even more disturbing when we see the punishments for the sins of sloth (featuring horrific and innovative use of prosthetics) and lust. The character of John Doe is notably eerie and enigmatic, and Spacey insisted on not receiving top billing in the credits, as he wanted his appearance in the film to be a surprise.

The first time we hear Doe’s voice is on the phone, and he's not fully revealed to us until very near the end of the movie, just before Se7en's iconic, climactic closing scene. Fincher worked on various endings and was in dispute with the producers about how to end the movie, but his choice was vindicated. The famous "what's in the box?" scene at the end, where Doe presents a grisly surprise to Mills, still has an ability to shock on subsequent viewings and has made Se7en one of the greatest serial killer movies of all time. The film received critical acclaim upon its release and was a commercial success, garnering numerous awards and nominations, including Oscar nominations for Best Film Editing and Best Original Score (Howard Shore), and a Saturn Award for Fincher for Best Director. Few films have the power to disturb audiences like Se7en and its influence has been widespread, including in the horror genre. 

Fincher has gone to become one of the most consistent directors in Hollywood, including the superbly written thriller Zodiac (2007), as well as The Social Network (2010) and Gone Girl (2014). Some people cite Fight Club (1999) as Fincher's best movie, but I think it has more style than substance. For me, Se7en remains Fincher's finest and most influential film.