Closing Shots: David Fincher

A collection of final shots from the works of David Fincher.

David Liu | 18 December 2011

Seven (1995)

“The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for,” narrates Detective Lt. William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) in a world-weary voice, quoting from Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, before adding: “I agree with the second part.” David Bowie’s “The Heart’s Filthy Lesson” surfaces after the fade to black.

The Game (1997)

You can never be sure anymore. After reaching an uncertain catharsis in the form of a impromptu dinner date, Nicholas Van Orton — cinema’s contemporary Ebenezer Scrooge — looks left and right in weary bemusement. Fincher cuts out to a wide shot of the nighttime San Francisco locale, and Jefferson Airplane’s haunting “White Rabbit” creeps into the final credits.

Fight Club (1999)

In the heat of the moment, the Narrator (Edward Norton) grabs the bewildered Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) by the hand. “You met me at a very strange time in my life,” he says, as glittering monoliths of consumer culture crumble to the opening chords of The Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?”

Zodiac (2007)

“The last time I saw this face was July 4th, 1969. I am very sure that’s the man who shot me.” A haunted survivor affirms the implausible, wrapping up Fincher’s monumental chronicle of fears and obsessions at the dawn of the Information Age. The use of Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” both here and in the film’s opening sequence, echoes with sinister vitality.

The Social Network (2010)

Dead silence is punctuated only by The Beatles’s “Baby, You’re a Rich Man” and the sound of fingers typing on a keyboard. A close-up of Mark Zuckerberg’s face confirms his evolution from obscure wunderkind to lonely sovereign of a virtual empire.