John Doe's Apartment

The serial killer’s John Doe's apartment is a key scene in director David Fincher’s film Seven (1995) because it includes clues which could be use to determine the serial killer's identity. Doe lives in a dilapidated building which looks like it could have emanated in an earlier era such as the detective narratives which the film pays homage to. The film uses composite scenery from different eras such as detective and the film Noir narratives from the 1930s to 1940s with the old books, black-and-white photographs and dark environments (which are present in David Fincher's other films) with the comparatively modern work tools and electric lights within the apartment which the gives the place a timeless feel.

Religious iconography can be observed throughout Doe’s apartment which has a large neon cross that suggests that John Doe is devoutly religious and that it might provides motivation for his crimes. Because of belief in the grand narrative of the Christian faith are the sets of beliefs in which Doe subscribes specifically relating to morality. Because the Christian narrative has been neglected in the film's universe which leads to Doe’s belief that the world has fallen into sin and the murders are Doe’s way of punishing those who have committed the seven deadly sins, which is an attempt to re-establish moral order in the way.

The clue for this are signified by the books which are strewn about throughout the apartment that include works of literature which have influenced Does murders such as Paradise lost and the writings of Thomas Aquinas which lays out the definitions of the seven deadly sins this is nostalgia for the past and the suggestion of Fabulation which suggests reality is derived from its textual representations. This acknowledges the “fact that the film is a text, not a reality”. The apartment has multiple locks on the door and blacked out windows is a physical manifestation of the personality traits of the serial killer including his obsessive and meticulous nature and also paranoia of a he world he can not control due to cultural schizophrenia. Coupled with this “he apartment contains no fingerprints”

For the start of the scene starts from 7.00 in first clip and ends with 4.00 in the second