Guilt, victim, narcissism: the ambiguous meaning of the film Seven Pounds. Seven Pounds (2008): meaning, plot of the film, explanation of the ending, similar films.
Country: USA
Genre: drama, melodrama
Year of production: 2008
Directed by: Gabriele Muccino
Actors: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson
tagline: “They don’t know each other. They have different fates. But they have one secret
How to shoot a strong drama without sliding into a tear squeezer? The answer may come from the plot and meaning of the film Seven Pounds by Gabriele Muccino. This movie is about self-sacrifice, responsibility and changing life values. However, everyone can understand this movie in their own way – and make a completely different thesis. One thing is for sure: this film cannot leave you indifferent.
What is the movie about
Brief description of the content of the film Seven Pounds. The protagonist of the film, a successful engineer Tim Thomas, who calls himself Ben Thomas, gets into an accident that kills seven people, including his beloved Sarah.
Will Smith played the lead role of Tim Thomas in the film. Frame from the film.
The young man considers himself guilty and is tormented by guilt. He decides to save the seven good people who need help the most. To do this, he begins to look for those who urgently need donor organs.
Soon he finds five, but with the last two of the seven, “not everything is so simple.” Trying to figure out if they are really “good”, Tim uses his brother Ben’s work ID (without the knowledge of the latter). Soon he meets the blind musician Ezra.
The second organ candidate finds Tim on his own. So a young man meets Emily, a man with a very rare blood type, a businesswoman in need of a heart transplant. The girl lives in a small house with a garden along with a dog. They spend some time together with Tim and fall in love with each other.
Despite a strong attachment to Emily, Tim does not deviate from the intended plan. Toward the end of the film, he goes to a hotel and decides to take his own life. After filling the tub with ice water to preserve his organs, he leaves a note for the rescuers, then calls a doctor and launches a box jellyfish into the bath, the poison of which is deadly.
At the end of the picture, Tim’s friend Dan, appointed by him as executor of the will, is convinced that all donors received their organs. He is especially careful to ensure that Ezra gets the cornea of the eye, and Emily gets the heart.
Ending explanation
The film Seven Pounds has no hidden meaning, the plot does not involve interpretations, riddles and clues. Therefore, the explanation of the ending is quite simple.
The picture ends with the meeting of Emily and Ezra. A man who regained his sight after the death of the protagonist plays the piano. A woman comes to listen to him play, in whose chest the heart of the man she fell in love beats.
The meaning of the ending of the film Seven Pounds is that Tim himself, after his death, was convinced (literally saw with his own eyes) that the dear person is alive and his health is out of danger. Tim’s mission is accomplished: having taken seven lives, at the cost of his death he gave the opportunity to live to other people.
The meaning of the film
The director of the film Seven Pounds, Gabriele Muccino, has already worked with Will Smith. Previously, they filmed a drama together called “The Pursuit of Happyness”, the meaning of which was that you never need to give up – and then everything will work out.
In one of his interviews, Muccino mentioned that he would like to return in his work to the theme of the strength of the human spirit. According to him, he dreamed of making a movie with an unusual, unused, but at the same time a living idea.
Rosario Dawson played the role of Emily. Frame from the film.
Seven Pounds is not quite an accurate translation of the original title of the painting. The film is called “Seven pounds” – thus Muccino gives a reference to the work of William Shakespeare. Or rather, to his play “The Merchant of Venice”. It tells of a merchant named Antonio who agreed to give the moneylender Shylock a pound of his flesh if his debt was not paid on time. Seven is the number of “debts” in the plot. The protagonist of the film “Seven Lives” believes that he must repay the debt sevenfold…
In cinema, redemption and sacrifice in the name of love are quite popular motifs. However, in this tape, both of these motifs are quite originally opposed to each other.
In their debriefing, viewers wonder: Is Tim really responsible for the deaths of seven people? This cannot be said for sure – we only see that the hero of Will Smith considers himself guilty. Maybe there is no fault here – he really could not influence the situation and what he is experiencing is only a survivor complex?
Nevertheless, Tim cannot live on and decides to “repay the debt”. This is certainly very noble, but is it sacrificial? Hardly – after all, the hero decides to part with a life that he does not need. By donating his organs to those in need, he does not want to live.
The point of real sacrifice and real redemption is that it only comes with love. It is not known whether this was intended by the screenwriter or not, but according to the plot, Tim gets a second chance from fate. In theory, he should have understood that his life is no less valuable than the lives of those who died in an accident and those that he is trying to save. The heart that he gives to the woman he loves already wants to beat on, but Tim has already made a decision. Courageous and noble.
The role of Ezra was played by Woody Harrelson. Frame from the film.
There was more redemption in this act of his than in all previous sacrifices. But it is not exactly. The human heart weighs about one pound. There are seven of them in the film – Seven Pounds. Tim chooses seven people to help. He literally and figuratively gave his heart to Emily alone. But in fact, each of the people he saved received a piece of his heart.
Another look
Far from everyone, the picture Seven Pounds seems so blissful. Many viewers believe that the essence of the film and the meaning inherent in it are strange and even dangerous.
The thing is that Tim is certainly a good person doing a noble deed. However, these seven people he helped have nothing to do with the mistake he made. He helped people, but did not atone for his guilt.
There are people who are constantly trying to “help” someone and “save” someone. They criticize, proclaim their own values, and often “cancel” those who are “rescued” as individuals. This phenomenon is called “perverse narcissism” in psychology. Probably, Tim Thomas suffered something similar. He did not go to jail, did not help the relatives of the victims, and did not even donate his organs randomly – his fixed idea was to help necessarily “worthy” people. That is, those who he, Tim, like. Why not a God complex?
People who suffer from perverted narcissism often claim to be messianic. They sacrifice themselves, not paying attention to what they think and feel at the same time those for whom they go to such an act. But it is impossible to give life as a value to other people, canceling and devaluing your own. Otherwise, the act itself and its performance leave only the pain that those who received such a “gift” will experience until the end of their lives.
Frame from the film.
Similar films
Here are a few more pictures similar in meaning to Seven Pounds with Will Smith:
- “The Pursuit of Happyness” (USA, 2006). One day, Chris lost everything: his job, his wife, and his livelihood. However, he did not give up and won.
- “Forrest Gump” (USA, 1994). Forrest Gump is a simple guy with a slight mental retardation. However, this did not prevent him from coping with this life and finding his place in it.
- “Knockdown” (USA, 2005). The Great Depression. Once-famous heavyweight boxer Jim Braddock gets a chance to return to the ring again.
