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The Matrix in IMAX – ready for the red pill?
by Luca Fontana
Se7en in IMAX: why Fincher’s masterpiece is still shocking after 30 years
18.12.2024
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
30 years after it premiered, Se7en returns to IMAX cinemas. And with it, deeply disturbing questions that have been lingering in our minds for decades: can a world like this still be saved?
«The world is a fine place,» Ernest Hemingway once wrote, «and worth fighting for.» Detective William Somerset, played by Morgan Freeman, only agrees with the second part. The electricity pylons across the suburban steppe are barely visible; dusk has almost turned to night. The crime that’s just taken place will be etched in his memory forever.
This is how Se7en ends.
I vividly remember watching David Fincher’s masterpiece for the first time in my early teens. I was shocked to the core. And yet I knew what I’d just witnessed. A perfect film. Great script. Fantastic actors. Outstanding direction. And perhaps the best detective story ever told.
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While I’m crazy excited about this re-release, I can’t help but wonder what it is about the film that continues to fascinate me.
Here’s my attempt at explaining why – with spoilers.
A city of sins
Se7en isn’t set in a particular city, it’s set in every city.
On Mills’ first day, he and Somerset are called to a crime scene of the most disturbing kind: a 400-pound man has died of internal bleeding, his face pushed into a plate of spaghetti. He was forced to eat until the food made his stomach burst. The message this murder conveys is as cruel as it is precise:
gluttony.
When two more murders, no less disturbing, occur shortly afterwards, Somerset recognises the pattern: each crime’s based on one of the seven deadly sins. Pride, greed, envy, anger, lust, sloth and gluttony. And what about the series of murders? It’s not over yet.
Between good and bad.
And if Se7en has done one thing, it’s raise the agonising question that’s been lingering in our minds to this day: how would we react to a world of such cruelty and decay? With stoic reason, overwhelming despair or with unbridled rage?
An internal struggle
Before that, he remains invisible for most of the movie, but his presence nevertheless effortlessly permeates every scene. Because John Doe’s no ordinary villain. He’s a warning of how far people are capable of taking their convictions if they choose to embark on a dark, twisted mission without morals. A wake-up call to society, forcing it to take a look at itself and be reminded of its values.
«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,» Doe explains in the movie. «Well, not anymore. I’m setting the example. What I’ve done is going to be puzzled over and studied and followed… forever.»
John Doe wants to punish anyone committing the seven deadly sins and create a better world – at any cost. It’s a lofty goal from his point of view. But what makes Doe truly terrifying isn’t just his intelligence or ruthlessness. It’s the fact he’s hit a nerve. He forces us to confront ourselves with the uncomfortable question of whether we’ve, indeed, lost sight of the values that should define us.
«We see a deadly sin on every street – and we tolerate it,» echoes in my mind.
At the same time What’s in the box? burns itself into our collective movie memory.
The legacy of evil
With this final act, Mills not only redeemed Doe, but also sacrificed his own soul – and Doe proved to the world how easily we all break.
Is it this inevitable escalation that makes the end of Se7en resonate so much? Maybe. Or perhaps this is just one aspect. For me, it’s the tragedy. Why? Because the death of such a horrific, unscrupulous antagonist would usually be a reason to rejoice. But in this case, it’s John Doe who won in the end. His «masterpiece» is completed.
That’s what makes Se7en so shocking.
«We’ll take care of him,» the police captain says as Mills is taken away. «Whatever he needs,» Somerset replies. «Where you gonna be?» the captain finally asks. «Around,» Somerset sighs.
«I’ll be around.»
Header image: «Se7en» / Warner Bros.
Luca Fontana
Senior Editor
Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.chI write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.
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