Set in an unnamed, crime-ridden city, Seven's narrative follows disenchanted, nearly retired Detective Lieutenant William Somerset (Freeman) and his newly transferred partner David Mills (Pitt) as they try to stop a serial killer from committing a series of murders based on the seven deadly sins.

[13] While working as a sales assistant for Tower Records in 1991, Walker began writing a spec script called Seven, which is set in an unnamed, bleak and gloomy city that was inspired by his "depressing" time in New York.

[c] Facing the ultimatum of complying with these requests or risking replacement or project cancellation, Walker acquiesced and wrote a more-mainstream ending in which the detectives confront Doe in a church described as either on fire or burned out.

[4] He envisioned William Hurt playing the character but Fincher cast Freeman; the studio was concerned pairing a black detective with a white one would make Seven seem derivative of the action film Lethal Weapon (1987).

[51][10] Cinematographer Darius Khondji named the crime thriller Klute (1971) as a significant influence because of its "use of toplight ... widescreen compositions for intimacy rather than big vistas, the way that vertical strips of the city are shown in horizontal mode, the fragments of faces and bodies ... the look of Se7en has this heightened sense of realism—a realism that's been kicked up several notches and becomes its own style".

[53][25][51] Khondji used Panavision Primo lenses, which offered a sharp image with good contrast, and Kodak film stocks that could capture the "gritty" interiors and deep blacks for night-time exteriors.

[53] Pitt insisted on performing his own stunts for the scene; he slipped on a rain-slicked hood, crashing through the windshield and sustaining injuries including cut tendons and nerves in his left hand; Fincher said he saw exposed bone.

Fincher and Pitt both refused to compromise with the studio's request to replace the head-in-the-box ending but settled for a longer epilogue showing Mills being arrested and Somerset delivering a concluding narration, offering some humanity.

[45] The opening credits were scripted to be set over footage of Somerset visiting a countryside home he intended to purchase for his retirement, taking a piece of the wallpaper which he would carry through the film, before returning to the city by train.

[66][62][67] Seven features songs including "In the Beginning" by the Statler Brothers, "Guilty" by Gravity Kills, "Trouble Man" by Marvin Gaye, "Speaking of Happiness" by Gloria Lynne, Bach's Air from his Suite No.

3 in D Major, BWV 1068, performed by the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester conducted by Karl Münchinger, "Love Plus One" by Haircut One Hundred, "I Cover the Waterfront" by Billie Holiday, "Now's the Time" by Charlie Parker, and "Straight, No Chaser" by Thelonious Monk.

[8][11][56] He had to remain fairly still during four hours of filming, having to limit his breathing to prevent his stomach rising and falling, and the cold on set was worsened by makeup artists repeatedly spraying his body with water.

[65] Cooper regularly conferred with Wall on ideas, and spent the night before filming locating items such as fish hooks and loose hairs from his drain, which he believed would make interesting inclusions.

[71] Although digital options were available, Cooper's team chose to assemble the sequence by hand, believing any irregularities and accidents in the images would enhance the overall aesthetic, and manually added scratches, tears, and pen marks directly to the film negative.

[73] The studio's marketing president Chris Pula called the advertising campaign for Seven risky because it had to prepare people for the film's dark, violent content while making it a topic of discussion among potential audiences.

[ae] Although Gene Siskel considered Walker's script to be smartly written,[108] several critics were less enthusiastic, finding the dialogue trite, many scenes implausible, and character motivations weak.

[107][105][104] Bernard and Richard Schickel wrote Seven lacks many of the essentials prevalent in its genre such as suspense, witty dialogue and cathartic humor, and the psychological depth to match the intellectual thrills of The Silence of the Lambs.

[51] Howe and Owen Gleiberman said the ending is "like an act of treachery against the viewer", undermining any hope for a positive outcome;[96][100] and Barry Norman said it denies the audience "even of the final comfort they fully deserve".

[30][128][23] Somerset does not believe the city can be saved, intending to retire beyond its confines, and tells Mills that women are taught to yell "fire" rather than "help" because people are more likely to pay attention if they selfishly think themselves in danger.

[129][128] Film scholar Amy Taubin described the city as an infection point for corruption, in which signs of violence and decay are omnipresent in its dark corners, rain, television reports, fights, screams, and children in impoverished apartments.

[136][137] Seven's city is presented as a blighted, decaying zone of unfettered criminality and vice, echoing a reactionary view of urban problems concerning segments of the contemporary American middle class.

[138] Professor Kirsten Thompson characterizes the city as devoid of temporal or spatial markers, with an absence of recognizable elements like street signs, costumes, or specific vehicles that could provide clues to its identity.

Seven underscores this in several scenes, such as the dismissal of his concerns regarding a child witnessing a murder, the police captain's indifference to a mugger stabbing his victim's eyes, and the sex club manager who dislikes his role but sees no alternative.

[134][144][150] According to Dyer and author Matthew Saunders, Doe conducts a violent crusade, illustrating the consequences of moral decay and sin, based on his interpretation of Christian ideology, in a city similar to the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah.

[151][152] Writer Patricia Moir suggests that theorists in the late 1990s believed societal norms in North America were diminishing due to the decay of social meta-narratives of order created by religion, science, and art, and that in absence of these paradigms, all that remains is the chaos of existence.

[174] Allen describes the moral landscape of the Divine Comedy as holding human actions accountable to reason, emphasizing justice and mercy as a cosmic principle and distinguishing between the punishment of hell and penitence in Purgatorio.

[142][177] Oleson explores the societal phenomenon of glorifying serial killers, citing notorious figures like Jack the Ripper, Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Dahmer, who attained widespread recognition, as well as individuals who are sexually attracted to perpetrators of heinous crimes.

[178] The cultural fascination extends to fictional serial killers like Doe, Hannibal Lecter, Dexter Morgan, and John Kramer who are depicted as intelligent, resourceful, and endowed with unique motivations and methods.

[33] Writers Terri Murray and Lewis Rose highlight a thematic parallel between Somerset and Doe, emphasizing their meticulous, fastidious, and patient natures, contrasting with the brash and impulsive Mills, who portrays himself as a crime-fighting hero.

[206][207] Subsequent genre films and television shows, such as The Bone Collector (1999), Along Came a Spider (2001), and the Saw series (2003), replicated Seven's grim aesthetic, body horror imagery, and the premise of disenchanted detectives pursuing criminals with distinctive killing methods and motivations.