The film that really put David Fincher’s name on the map was Se7en, which as well as being my favorite of his films is also a regular feature amongst my top 10 films of all time. It’s an immensely layered and incredibly detailed thriller, and here are my 5 favorite things about it.
5. Morgan Freeman: I’m a big fan of Morgan Freeman as an actor. He’s so great at playing a loveable, kindly, knowledgeable old man that it’s comforting simply knowing he’s around. I never knew my grandfather on my mother’s side, so I think I’ll always substitute Mr. Freeman into that role. In Se7en, Freeman plays Detective Somerset, a world weary, exhausted man who has had enough of the world around him, yet becomes embroiled in one last case involving murders based on the seven deadly sins. Freeman is a steady rock around which the rest of the film flows, providing a reassuring fixed point to help you through the depravity on screen. Also, it’s one of his best roles, and one in which we get to see that rarest of things; his unabashed, gleeful, gutteral laugh. How often does he actually get to be outright happy in films, especially ones as dark as this? Of course it doesn’t last, but it’s enjoyable whilst on the screen.
4. It’s a buddy cop movie: Earlier this month Jess pointed out how much she loved the fact that Panic Room is what David Fincher does with the “popcorn movie” genre, and that inspired this point, because on the surface Se7en is a classic example of a heavily cliched buddy cop movie. You’ve got an old, lonely, timid detective a few days from retirement working on one last case, paired up with his hot young firebrand family-man rookie replacement. One does things by the book, the other hasn’t even read it. One is eager to get his hands dirty and get the job done whilst the other prefers to keep an emotional distance to prevent himself from breaking. Hilarity ensues. One of Fincher’s strongest abilities is to take a tried-and-tested genre and give it a fresh twist so forceful that you miss the genre completely; The Social Network is the least bookish courtroom drama I’ve ever seen, and Zodiac is less a police procedural as much as it’s a study into the cost of obsession. Here Fincher retains many aspects of a traditional buddy cop movie – the family meal, breaks for comedy, belligerent police chief – whilst taking the story in directions you’d never think it could possibly go.
3. “DETECTIVES!”: If I were doing a list of my favorite character introductions, Kevin Spacey’s John Doe strolling into the police station, covered in the blood of his latest victim and bellowing “DETECTIIIIIIIVES!” at the departing Mills and Somerset would have a pretty good shot as my number 1. To be fair it isn’t the first time we’ve encountered John Doe – he of course accosts Brad Pitt’s Mills on the stairs, and that is most assuredly Spacey’s voice you hear in that scene – but this is the first time we see his face, his cut-and-bandaged fingertips and his ambivalent, calm-as-anything expression. The way he allows himself to be handcuffed and peacefully lays on the floor, politely requesting to speak to his lawyer (who, by the way, turns out to be The West Wing’s Richard Schiff!) you can just tell his plan is far from over, and despite him being the one in handcuffs, Doe has the upper hand over anyone else in the film.
2. You don’t see the kills: Se7en is, at times, a horrible, grimy, nauseating work of art, with some of the most disgusting, vile and putrid deaths committed to film… except they’re not. Of the various murders committed by John Doe throughout the film, we never actually see any take place, which for a thriller is pretty astounding. Think of what could have been shown here – the set-up of the Pride death, gluing the phone and the pills to the victim’s hands, or the torture throughout the Gluttony death, these would have made for some incredibly distrubing scenes that would stick with you for far longer than you’d like. Instead, Fincher opts to simply show the aftermath – invariably with the corpse still present – and that’s plenty sick and twisted for me. Fincher is a master of only showing what we need to see, and he gives us all the input we need to ascertain what went down, and how fortunate we are not to have been a part of it.
1. R. Lee Ermey: I mentioned earlier that all good buddy cop movies need an angry police chief to berate and belittle our heroes, and few have ever been better than R. Lee Ermey. Ever since he insulted his way onto the screen in Full Metal Jacket, Ermey has been an engaging screen presence, with a way with dialogue and an authoritorial style that could only have been honed as a U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor. He’s such a small part of the overall picture that is Se7en, but he has my single most favorite moment throughout the entire film. During a conversation he is having between Mills and Somerset, a phone rings and rings, attempting vainly to interrupt the proceedings, as Somerset outlines the seven deadly sins inspiring the serial killer who has thus far only ticked off Greed and Gluttony. Ermey, attempting to listen intently, instructs Somerset to hold on whilst he answers the phone with the curt line of “This is not even my desk” before telling Somerset to continue. It’s a tiny fraction of an otherwise crucial exposition scene, yet it never fails to crack me up, and it’s a line I try to use as often as possible in my everyday life. Fortunately I work in an office with generally more ringing phones than there are people to answer them, but unfortunately most of the people on the other line have no idea whatsoever as to what I’m talking about. Either way, it’s tiny moments like this – of which Se7en is absolutely filled – that make me love this film.
Are you a fan of Se7en? What do you love about it? Let us know in the comments.
