Film noirs first started to show up in America during the 1940s and 50s. These crime dramas had unique styles, such as certain lighting, settings and characters, that turned them into their own film genre. Films made recently still use these techniques. Some of these characteristics are brought over in the film Seven (1995) directed by David Fincher. Seven is a film noir because of the, the urban landscape, dark lighting and the crime and violence. What exactly is a film noir and why were they created in the first place? Let's travel back to the 1940s, many of these films were made after the second world war. Many of the filmmakers who made noir films had lived through German expressionism in the 1920s and many found influence from it. In …show more content…
The film opens right on a crime scene the victim is an overweight man who is laying face down in a plate of spaghetti. The body has purple and white splotches all over it. During this scene we also get introduced to the detectives on the case. One of the detectives David Mills (Brad Pitt) is a new transfer, Detective Lt. William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) on the other hand is about to retire. Somerset is quiet observing the scene and taking in every detail. While on the other hand Mills cracks a few jokes. Later behind the refrigerator carved into the the wall is the word “Gluttony”. Somerset walks into the captain's office and explains to him that this is only the beginning. Not only was this murder brutal and hard to watch, but it is only the start. However what was even more disturbing was when the killer, John Doe explained why he killed the man. As he says in the film, “An obese man, a disgusting man who could barely stand up... who if you saw him on the street, you'd point so your friends could mock him along with you. Who if you saw him while you were eating, you wouldn't be able to finish your meal.” (New Line Cinema). This took the violence and his crimes to another level, almost lingering on it. This makes the audience think back to the gruesome crime scenes and brings everything together into this one