Film Theory: David Fincher's Se7en Is Set In Gotham Before Batman
Before Batman Begins, there was Se7en.
David Fincher's Se7en is one of the most iconic thrillers of the 1990s, a tightly-wound exercise in gut-wrenching suspense anchored by excellent performances from Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey.
But above even its unsentimental approach to violence and grimly haunting ending, Se7en is one of the most atmospheric films of its genre ever made, and a big part of the reason for that is Fincher's incredible job of building a realistic yet deeply unsettling world for these characters to inhabit.
In recent years, there's been a fan theory that's grown considerably in popularity online, that the city depicted in Se7en is effectively a pre-Batman Gotham City.
Now, there aren't any direct indicators or Easter eggs in the film that suggest Fincher was consciously attempting to convey this, but in examining the film's tone and aesthetic, not to mention some neat coincidences between Se7en and Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight saga, it's a theory that slots together quite effortlessly.
Whether you accept Se7en as a tangential companion piece to Batman media or a more direct prequel-of-sorts to Nolan's films, it doesn't take much fudging at all to make the properties connect in a satisfying - and more importantly, fun - way.
And so, read on as we detail the shared DNA and shocking consistencies between Fincher's unforgettable thriller and the Caped Crusader's beleaguered hometown...