Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 29 wins & 44 nominations total
- Dead Man at 1st Crime Scene
- (as Andy Walker)
- First Guard at the Library
- (as Roscoe Davidson)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAs preparation for his traumatic scene in the interrogation room, Leland Orser would hyperventilate, so that his body would be overly saturated with oxygen. He also did not sleep for a few days, in order to achieve his character's disoriented look.
- GoofsWhen the detectives are at the door of John Doe's apartment, John walks into the hallway. He sees them, drops his bag of groceries, pulls a gun, shoots, and runs. The bag is now on the floor, with its contents spilled out. When Mills gives chase, he runs down the same hallway. The dropped bag of groceries has vanished.
- Quotes
David Mills: Wait, I thought all you did was kill innocent people.
John Doe: Innocent? Is that supposed to be funny? An obese man... a disgusting man who could barely stand up; a man who if you saw him on the street, you'd point him out to your friends so that they could join you in mocking him; a man, who if you saw him while you were eating, you wouldn't be able to finish your meal. After him, I picked the lawyer and I know you both must have been secretly thanking me for that one. This is a man who dedicated his life to making money by lying with every breath that he could muster to keeping murderers and rapists on the streets!
David Mills: Murderers?
John Doe: A woman...
David Mills: Murderers, John, like yourself?
John Doe: [interrupts] A woman... so ugly on the inside she couldn't bear to go on living if she couldn't be beautiful on the outside. A drug dealer, a drug dealing pederast, actually! And let's not forget the disease-spreading whore! Only in a world this shitty could you even try to say these were innocent people and keep a straight face. But that's the point. We see a deadly sin on every street corner, in every home, and we tolerate it. We tolerate it because it's common, it's trivial. We tolerate it morning, noon, and night. Well, not anymore. I'm setting the example. What I've done is going to be puzzled over and studied and followed... forever.
- Crazy creditsSPOILER: Kevin Spacey's name is not included in the opening titles to keep the John Doe intrigue going. To compensate, he is listed twice in the closing credits: once before the credits start rolling and once in the rolling credits in order of appearance.
- Alternate versionsUSA laserdisc edition adds a few scenes deleted from theatrical release as a bonus at the end of the program, including: a prologue where Somerset (Morgan Freeman) is going to buy a country house. He uses his switchblade (seen many times in the final cut, but not explained) to cut out a small piece of wallpaper. There is an extended scene at the Mills' when David (Brad Pitt) is playing with his dogs, and Somerset talks to Tracy. He tells her about the house and shows her the wallpaper. She tells him that it wouldn't be such a good idea to show it to David, saying "He wouldn't understand.". These two scenes establish Somerset's characters better, and the second one helps the viewer understand why the wife chooses Somerset to talk to when she gets pregnant. She knows that Somerset is much more sensible than her husband, and will understand her. The second one however was probably dumped earlier since it is included among the dailies and outtakes and the first one appears as a deleted scene.
- ConnectionsEdited into L'affaire Caravage (2019)
- SoundtracksCloser (Precursor)
Written by Trent Reznor
Performed by Nine Inch Nails
Courtesy of Nothing/TVT/Interscope Records
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products and TVT Records
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.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Seven
- Filming locations
- Pacific Electric Building, Los Angeles, California, USA(Police Headquarters)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $33,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $100,125,643
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $13,949,807
- Sep 24, 1995
- Gross worldwide
- $327,333,559
- Runtime2 hours 7 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1