MovieChat Forums > Se7en (1995) Discussion > My Favorite Part of Se7en (SPOILERS)

My Favorite Part of Se7en (SPOILERS)

posted 4 years ago by ecarle (14979)
20 replies | jump to latest

My favorite part of Se7en is when Brad Pitt's cop confronts Kevin Spacey's psycho about...being a psycho.

So often in movies about serial killers, the cop has to be "polite" with the psycho. Think Clarice with Hannibal Lecter. Or all those characters in the Psycho sequels who thought that Norman Bates was just a "crazy mixed up kid" and never REALLY asked him why he slaughtered a woman in a shower(or a man on a staircase, for that matter.)

In an earlier Hitchcock movie about a psycho -- "Strangers on a Train" -- the sane hero(Farley Granger) keeps pleading with the insane villain (Robert Walker), usually saying "You're sick, Bruno -- you need help." (And exactly what KIND of help can you give a psycho killer?)

But Brad Pitt puts it directly to Spacey:

"So I've got a question. Do you KNOW you're crazy? I mean, when you are masterbating into a pile of your own feces, do you suddenly think and go "Fuck, I'm fucking crazy!"

Spacey ignores the question ,but his face scrunches up in anger and -- its always been satisfying to me.

Too bad Pitt didn't REALLY think about what he was saying to Spacey. He didn't have the upper hand.

[–] ecarle (14979) 2 years ago

bump

[–] Heisenberg (6730) a year ago

Yes but it's all part of his plan, so the moment loses its greatness.
Doe is happy that Mills hates him, so that kind of response and confrontation is what he wants.

[–] DavidM (875) a year ago

He wasn't a psycho, psychopaths act for sexual impulses. Doe was a visionary who was making a big piece of social comment.

[–] BKB (9889) a year ago

The Dude was flat out NUTS. He had Fed Ex deliver his Pitt's wife's head in a box. Doesn't get any crazier than that

[–] DavidM (875) a year ago

Have you watched the movie, did you hear him explaining what was trying to express to the world?

[–] BKB (9889) a year ago

Dude, I've seen this countless times and no matter what his explanation for doing it was, he's still fucking nuts in the end and got what he deserved.. The end

[–] DavidM (875) a year ago

No, he got exactly what he wanted, and that way he completed his plan... So he finally won.

[–] BKB (9889) a year ago

Actually, the taxpayers won in that movie not having to put this nut on trial and pay for his housing, food &clothing when he was found guilty and sent to a maximum prison

[–] DavidM (875) a year ago

And Mills?

[–] BKB (9889) a year ago

Mills would've got off on a momentary lapse of reason like anyone would've experienced having their loved one's head delivered to them in a box via Fed Ex.. Anyone would've snapped, myself included, and put him in the ground, wherther he wanted it or not and if the Jury couldn't understand it and Mills was found guilty?? Then it would've been a miscarriage of Justice, much like we see under the Biden Administration in 2023

[–] DavidM (875) a year ago

Even if he isn't sentenced to prison his life and his career as police officer is destroyed, and beyond that, he showed himself as someone with too anger who can't deal with the work of a cop.

[–] BKB (9889) a year ago

Yeah, you're right on that

[–] DavidM (875) a year ago

If it was just him and Sommerset they could have lied and say John Doe try to grab their gun or something and it was self defense, but there were cops in the helicopters watching everything, they saw Mill shot an unarmed prisoner on his knees... I probably would have made the same, anyway.

[–] Stratego (30503) a year ago

"psychopaths act for sexual impulses"

No.

John Doe was 100% a psychopath.

[–] DavidM (875) a year ago

Serial Killers acts for sexual impulses, I mean, sorry.

Does was more a sociopath than psychopathy.

[–] Stratego (30503) a year ago

"Serial Killers acts for sexual impulses, I mean, sorry"

That generalization is incorrect. Also, not all serial killers are psychopaths.

"Does was more a sociopath than psychopathy."

I would actually say the opposite. Doe can not be called impulsive or even aggressive.

[–] DavidM (875) a year ago

I know all psychopaths aren't serial Killers, but almost all serial Killers in History ( minus Zodiac, maybe) acted triggered by sexual impulses.

And read the Se7en comic, which is canon, you Will see I am right about John Doe :)

[–] Stratego (30503) a year ago

The comic is not the movie and not even written by the same person. Someone bought the license and suddenly I have to accept it as an official backstory? I don't think so.

Regardless of what happens in the comic, Doe can be a psychopath AND kill without any sexual impulses.

[–] DavidM (875) a year ago

Yes, is canon, confírmeme by the creators of the movie, It even appears in the special edition of the DVD. If you don't Accept It is only your problema :)

And yes, Done is a very strange case ( because is fiction) because he doesn't kill for sexual impulses, although he is also sexually deranged ( as is explained in the comic).

[–] Stratego (30503) a year ago

No, it's YOUR problem, because this is a discussion board for the movie (though I would love to see a quote from Fincher or Walker, because this website calls the comic "non-canon": https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/John_Doe_(Se7en_comics))

What's also YOUR problem is you saying Doe is not a psychopath because he does not kill for sexual impulse. Not only do you contradict yourself by claiming he's actually sexually deranged in the comic, Doe very clearly IS a psychopath and not a sociopath (and Doe is not THAT rare, many serial killers do not kill for sexual pleasure).