Wow this was one of the most effective rewatches I’ve ever experienced. My watchlist is looking at me sideways because there’s a lot I want to get to this month but I was inadvertently convinced by another reviewer to revisit this and I think I finally get it. 

This is one of the few movies where I realized during my viewing that it was directed perfectly. Every alignment of every shot works under scrutiny or casual attention. Each bit of dialogue and action and silence is paced perfectly. You can tell even from the way this film is made that it isn’t like other thrillers. It aims for more. 

When my father—who loves this movie—first enticed me to see it, I didn’t think the movie succeeded in the “more” for which it was aiming. I projected the lack of fulfillment from the characters on myself, and didn’t yet care about art enough to deduce messages from a work other than the tone it blatantly conveys. I didn’t like that the character who had awareness of evil in the world was the bad guy, and the cocky or apathetic detectives were supposed to be the good ones. 

Fincher taught me the then-unwanted lesson of 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕝𝕖𝕩 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕤, with a story whose good guys have a lot to learn and whose bad guys aren’t as unlearned as we’d like them to be. We’re not supposed to (and cannot possibly) walk away thinking any of Doe’s work is justified, but what makes him such an effective villain is that there’s a method to his madness and a truth to his egregiousness. 

What is that truth? That everyone has sin. Everyone does wrong. Doe lets hatred get the best of him and sees the world as a sin factory instead of a wilted garden. He has all of “Hate the sin...” without any of the “...but love the sinner.” His apathy isn’t a moral one, it’s a social, pathological one that removes personable repentance from morality. 

Aiming for perfect goodness is futile if we believe we can achieve it by ourselves, but it is essential if we are serious about being good people. Aiming for less than perfection is a slippery slope where we cannot draw a satisfactory line; we will keep making more and more allowances until we might as well not aim at all. That is why I believe that God, knowing we are sinners, tells us to aim for perfection and why John Doe represents a Pharisee more than a prophet or a saint. 

Just because sinlessness is the expectation doesn’t mean we must make ourselves judge, jury, and executioner when that expectation is not met in a broken world. 

William Somerset, one of my favorite characters and from my favorite performance by Morgan Freeman, learns a lesson of sympathy over apathy in the most disturbing, grueling way possible. His conversation with Mills in the bar is one of my favorite scenes from any film ever because there’s just so much humanity in it. This is what people mean when they say Fincher movies are stellar at depicting human behavior. We constantly mix up our wants and needs and Somerset and Mills’s conflict in this area is superbly convicting. Also, that scene where William peruses the classic books while listening to classical music* with those shots in the library... can anything match that level of class??

This film is just exceptional and I finally see why so many people think so. I thought at first it was a purely nihilistic genre picture but there’s so much more going on here. If you feel like reading more about this film then I'd recommend this lovely article that debunks the notion that the movie is just nihilistic and explores all the “moral calculus” involved. I’m still working through it (it’s a long article!) but it’s stupendous thus far. 

[This isn’t me telling anyone and everyone to see this movie, it’s possibly one of the darkest films out there, this is merely what I gleaned from it:] Writer Andrew Kevin Walker and director David Fincher have made something of a masterpiece with Se7en. This film that used to just bemuse me now haunts, disturbs, and repulses me... and yet produces an unforgettable exploration of humanity.

Love costs, like all worthwhile things do. 
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One thing that’s so impressive about Fincher is I could understand any of his movies being someone’s favorite from him. Social Network? Cool! Mine too. Gone Girl? Totally: that film’s amazing! Fight Club? Zodiac? Sure! Heck, I’ve even heard Alien 3 amply justified. He’s just that consistently great. No he’s not for everyone of course, but I think he’s at least close to solidifying himself as one of the artistic greats, since he definitely seems to bridge the pop culture and *true film* gap most masterfully.

*Bach's Air Suite No. 3 in D Major, according to YouTube