SEVEN
A film review by Alex Brenner
Copyright 1996 Alex Brenner
(1995) dir: David Fincher Brad Pitt Morgan Freeman Gwtneth Paltrow Kevin Spacey
* Some slight spoilers *
Much has been made of this film, and indeed it is portentous for the thriller genre. The dark cinematography breaks new ground for colour noir, and it pulls no punches to deliver the most substantial and breathtaking climax to any popular film since Star Wars. However, it is of interest to briefly study Se7en's place within the literary tradition of tragedy. The history of the genre is punctuated by innovative landmarks: Oedipus Rex (unwittingly) introduced psychology, the Book of Genesis mythology and Hamlet, character. The themes explored are traditionally the same: a hero, disconnected and alienated by fate, or destiny; and an epiphany in which the hero matures into disillusionment, or a kind of spiritual adulthood. These are evinced by my earlier examples: Oedipus provides a disturbingly literal realisation. Oedipus, not just disconnected, but actually banished for his future sin, marches inevitably towards his apotheosis. Upon learning the truth of his relations with his parents, he enters into a new stage of awareness, blinding himself, signifying his loss of faith in both noumena and phenomena. Fundamentally, this figures a maturing, a growth, from a naive faith in literalism and superstition, into a sight of the true loneliness and desolation of human existence. Like a child moving away from its mother, like humanity moving away from God, he loses the sense of security in which infantility is founded. In the Christian creation story, these themes are largely reiterated, but upon the gaining of knowledge, the protagonists are cast out of Eden, which is an unsually pungent statement of the religious implications of the tragic form. Shakespeare, and, for the sake of argument, Hamlet, is worthwhile covering here. As any nascent critic should know, he shifts the focus of the tragic form from plot to character, and distorts it in other ways without interrupting its fundamental impetus. This is a work of subtlety and emotional resonance probably unmatched until Joyce's Dubliners and Ulysses. The subtlety stems from new insights into the nature and motivation of the tragic hero: rather than being a simple plot device, Hamlet brings to the proceedings a pre-existant self-awareness and a rally against the play's necessary conclusion, which is probably the first time that such a work suggested that self-consciousness renders the tragedy of gnosis evitable, though in the end Hamlet of course suffers the revelation: 'The rest is silence.' All these are important in discussion of Se7en, which follows the twentieth century tradition of combining the emotional power of Shakespearean tragedy of character and the dramatic power of Classical tragedy of plot: witness Joyce, Eliot, Hughes and Golding as forebears. The critical innovation of Se7en is to devolve the tragic responsibility upon both Somerset and Mills. Somerset is as Hamlet, seperated from his colleagues by education and perception, who brings to the film the same sense of unease, and desire to prevent the revelatory pain. Mills is more traditional: literally naive. As the film progresses, we are given clues that Somerset's alienation derives from more than intelligence, and that he has himself undergone some kind of maturing epiphany, though we are told that 'It wasn't just one thing.' However, at the climax, there is no doubt that Somerset is aware of what is about to happen to Mills. He rails against Mills's destiny, implores him not to fulfil the sin which will give him view upon despair. Freeman's impeccable performance implies that, inwardly, his character is aware of the futility of this exercise. Such realisation of subtle, obscure nuance is the mark of a superb portrayal; Freeman's lack of Oscar nomination is in itself a tragedy. The last reel reveals the cript's only moments of facility, Doe rather obviously stating 'He didn't know.' However, this does not diminish Se7en's true value. Though its innovations are minor, they work beautifully, and it deserves full marks for three main achievements. First, it is the best delineation, of tragic revelation and redemption, of the latter half of the twentieth century. Disregarding the critic, it is also the most stark and shocking delineation of the same ever, possibly. Thirdly, it deserves full marks for being populist. Although its success hinges upon exploration of the same tenebraic ideas that fuel Crow and Finnegan's Wake, it is greatly more accessible than any other major tragedy one might care to name. With reference to Eden, one might say that Brad Pitt has truly become a 'legend' of 'the Fall.' Se7en is a stunning and important film.
Alex Brenner
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