Skip to main content
Close

Se7en (1995)

By Michael Schilf · November 15, 2010

 

Screenplay Genre: Crime / Drama / Thriller

Movie Time: 127 minutes

1. INCITING INCIDENT

In an unidentified city of constant rain and urban decay, Detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) who is six days from retirement is partnered up with a young, cocky Detective David Mills (Brad Pitt). After the two investigate the murder of a morbidly obese man, the coroner illustrates the man was killed by being force fed spaghetti until a kick to the stomach burst him open. (00:12:00)

2. LOCK IN

While Somerset continues working on the case of the obese man, Mills is assigned the murder case of Defense Attorney Eli Gould, with the word GREED written in Gould's blood on the floor. Soon after, Somerset discovers the word GLUTTONY written behind the obese man's fridge and concludes that both murders are connected: a serial killer is basing his victims on the Seven Deadly Sins. (00:23:16).

3. FIRST CULMINATION (End of Act One)

After the discovery of a the SLOTH victim, Somerset uses an FBI contact to get a list of people who checked out "flagged" library books related to the Seven Deadly Sins. The list leads Somerset and Mills to a man named John Doe, but when they visit his apartment, Doe (his face hidden) fires his gun at them. After a long chase, Doe hits Mills with a tire iron, keeping him subdued at gunpoint, but lets him live and flees. (1:07:55)

4. MAIN CULMINATION (Midpoint)

With the discovery of two more victims, LUST and PRIDE, Somerset decides to postpone his retirement "until this thing is done," but surprisingly John Doe (Kevin Spacey) arrives at the Fourteenth Precinct covered in blood and turns himself in. Doe's lawyer explains that if Doe can take Somerset and Mills to two more bodies (ENVY and WRATH), he will confess to all the murders. The detectives agree. (1:36:39)

5. THIRD ACT TWIST (End of Act Two)

As the three arrive to the desert outskirts of the city, a van appears and Somerset stops it. The driver claims he was paid $500 to deliver a box. Somerset cautiously opens the box, but recoils in horror from what he sees. Meanwhile, Doe informs Mills that he was guilty of ENVY and tried to "play husband" with Mills' wife, but he took a souvenir instead: "Her pretty head." Now it's up to Mills to complete Doe's masterpiece; shooting Doe in vengeance, Mills embodies WRATH. (1:56:49)