Se7en (1995) Review: Seven Sins, Endless Rain

Is Se7en worth watching?

Yes. Se7en is a masterfully controlled serial-killer thriller, as oppressive and gripping now as it was in 1995, and the film that made David Fincher’s name. Its rain, gloom and methodical detective work create an atmosphere few crime films have matched, and Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt make a superbly mismatched pair. The reservation is its unrelenting bleakness: this is a film about moral rot that offers almost no relief, and some viewers will find it more punishing than thrilling.

What is Se7en about?

In Se7en, Detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) is days away from retiring after decades on the force in an unnamed, perpetually rain-drenched American city. His replacement, the brash young Detective David Mills (Brad Pitt), has just moved there with his wife, Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow), eager to prove himself.

Their first case together is a grotesque murder that turns out to be the start of a series. The killer is staging each death around one of the seven deadly sins, and Somerset, a reader and thinker, goes to the library to understand the mind behind it, while Mills, impatient and physical, scoffs at the idea that books will help.

Fincher directs from Andrew Kevin Walker’s screenplay. It is an American production in English and runs 127 minutes.

A city that seems to rot on screen

The atmosphere is the film’s first great achievement. Darius Khondji’s photography keeps the city in near-permanent darkness and rain, and the apartments and crime scenes are cramped, filthy and full of detail. Flashlight beams cutting through black rooms become the film’s signature image. The opening title sequence, all scratched film and jittery handwriting, sets the tone before a single line of dialogue.

What is striking, watching it now, is how little the film actually shows. The murders are mostly discovered after the fact, and the horror comes from implication, sound and the detectives’ faces. Fincher’s precision, which would define his later career, is already fully formed here.

Freeman and Pitt as opposing temperaments

The central partnership is carefully built. Freeman gives Somerset a weary gentleness; he is a decent man who has decided the world is beyond repair, and his quiet scenes of reading and reflecting are some of the film’s most memorable. Pitt plays Mills as all energy and anger, a man who still believes in right and wrong and wants to punish the guilty. Their friction, and the grudging respect that grows from it, gives the procedural its human stakes.

Paltrow has limited screen time as Tracy, but her scenes with Freeman, including a quiet dinner and a private conversation, add a note of warmth that makes the surrounding darkness heavier. R. Lee Ermey is a solid presence as their police captain.

Where the design outweighs the people

For all its craft, Se7en is not without limits. Mills is written more as a type than a full character, and some viewers will find his hotheadedness one-note beside Somerset’s depth. The killer’s scheme also depends on a level of planning and luck that the film asks audiences to accept without question. And the film’s philosophy, that the world is irredeemably corrupt, is presented with a certain adolescent relish. None of this weakens its grip, but it keeps it just short of perfection.

Who should watch Se7en?

It is essential for fans of crime thrillers, detective stories and Fincher’s work, and a key film for anyone interested in 1990s American cinema. At a little over two hours it is tightly paced. It contains disturbing images of mutilated bodies, strong language, and themes of sadism and cruelty; it is strictly for adult viewers and is not recommended for anyone sensitive to grim or graphic material.

If you want more in the same vein:

• The Silence of the Lambs, the serial-killer thriller that immediately preceded Se7en and set the template for the genre in that decade.
• Gone Girl, a later Fincher mystery with the same cold precision applied to a missing-person case.
• The Batman, a superhero film that borrows heavily from Se7en’s rain, darkness and puzzle-leaving killer.

The verdict

Se7en remains one of the most atmospheric and unnerving crime thrillers ever made, built on meticulous direction, a brilliant central duo and a mood of total dread. It is uncompromisingly bleak and occasionally too pleased with its own darkness, but its craft and power are undeniable.

Rating: 4.5/5