Se7en (1995)
The film follows two detectives, a seasoned veteran nearing retirement and a younger partner, as they investigate a serial killer whose murders are patterned after the seven deadly sins. As the case deepens, the investigation becomes increasingly grim and personal. The story builds toward a bleak confrontation that exposes the killer’s disturbing philosophy.
Narrative Score
Full Plot & Ending Explained
Intro
Against the backdrop of a nameless, crime-ridden city, the film follows Detective William Somerset, who is one week from retirement, and his new partner, Detective David Mills, a brash transfer whose wife Tracy is unhappy with their move and later reveals to Somerset that she is pregnant. The two are assigned to a series of murders staged around the seven deadly sins, beginning with a grotesque “gluttony” killing and a “greed” murder that convince Somerset the crimes are linked.
Turning Point 1
After the detectives find the “gluttony” victim, an obese man forced to eat himself to death, they investigate the “greed” case, where a wealthy defense attorney has been made to cut a pound of flesh from his own body. Somerset notices the murder scenes are deliberately symbolic, and the case becomes personal when he begins to treat the killings as a carefully planned moral program rather than random violence.
Turning Point 2
Clues at the crime scenes lead Somerset and Mills to an apartment where they discover the “sloth” victim: a drug-dealing, child-molesting man who has been kept alive for a year while strapped to a bed, emaciated and barely conscious. The detectives realize John Doe has been planning the murders for a long time, and their investigation deepens when library records and evidence from the apartment point them toward Doe’s identity.
Turning Point 3
The detectives track John Doe to his apartment, but Doe returns unexpectedly, attacks Mills with a tire iron, and escapes by manipulating the chase. The police later discover Doe’s apartment filled with notebooks, photographs, and evidence showing he has monitored the victims and even surveilled Somerset and Mills, proving he has been studying them as part of his plan.
Turning Point 4
The killings continue with “lust” and “pride,” including a horrific sexual assault carried out under Doe’s coercion and a woman whose face has been mutilated and who is given the choice to live with her disfigurement or die. Somerset and Mills race from one atrocity to the next, but Doe remains ahead of them, and the pressure on Mills increases as Tracy grows more isolated and distraught over city life and her pregnancy.
Turning Point 5
Doe finally surrenders to the police and insists on being taken on a drive into the desert, where he reveals that his final two victims and final design are still in motion. He then leads Somerset and Mills toward the last stage of his plan, delivering a package to Somerset that he refuses to explain in advance.
Ending
At the desert meeting place, Doe reveals that Tracy Mills has been murdered and that her severed head is in the package Somerset received. Enraged beyond restraint, Mills kills John Doe, completing Doe’s intended “wrath” ending and turning Mills into the final piece of the killer’s seven-sin design.
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