Seven Pounds

Life can embody the symbolism of growth, impulse, and the essence of the human spirit. In contrast death does as much, in an opposing form. As life's opposite in aspect, death takes instead of gives, it breaks down, renouncing drive or resolve, and in essence dismantles the character that humans have formed and developed. The two parallels coordinate in balance. One extension of that symbolism for life is water. It can be calm, or fashion into a raging influx of power. It can be beautiful and destructive all in the same sense. It personifies in many films the counterparts of light and dark, life and death. In some shots the blue of the water can be a calming relaxant, or a prospect of destruction.  Similarly color can take up a fundamental component in cinematography. Complemented by the pieces of music composed for the film accompany the palate of colors elected for the scenes. These facets of cinematography are displayed in the film Seven Pounds. Ben Thomas (Tim) is constantly surrounded by these provisions placed in the setting. A constant frame seen in the film is the shadow of death that Ben carries with him. In most scenes the atmosphere, coupled with the music and color coalesces the integrity of his mission. Ben is constantly followed or shown with parallels of the accident, or another object that resembles something from his past. Haunted by the past, and a flicker of memory of the disaster that took (Sarah) his fiancee's life along with six others, Ben begins to plan his final act of restitution; he kills himself to save the lives of seven others - equal to the amount he killed in the accident. Throughout the film, there is a constant force of duality. The parallels between life and death are presented primarily in Ben and Emily throughout the film. Other elements displayed entirely in the film couple the main aspect projected to the audience in discrete moments. The many parallels of life and death shown between Emily and Ben appear in the diegesis, editing, mise-en-scene among other elements captured in the film, and through subtle hints shown between scenes.
At the beginning of the film Ben speaks of how God created the world in seven days, and how he destroyed is in seven seconds. His world collapsed when he sent a text and killed seven others. From that point on he lives a life full of abjection. His failure pursue's him in shadow, appearing in moments of weakness, vulnerability, and deficiency. The pain of his mistake follows in these moments, and he reassures himself that the plan he has conceived to pay penance for the causalities he caused will constitute a kind of reconciliation for the lives he took. On the opposite side of the spectrum Emily who suffers a heart condition and has a rare blood type.  While Ben tows along a shadow of bereavement and dissolution, Emily in comparison is full of life and spirit. "Its very simple on this picture though anything that had to do with Ben was about taking things away from the frame, making it empty, making him alone. Anything with Emily, was filling the frame up with wonderful life, and I think it was extremely appropriate" (Todd Black, Seven Pounds). As Ben's and Emily's lives start to intertwine more and more, the more moments appear to further connect parallels of their lives to each other. One such parallel between Emily and Ben are the colors that surround them. In the scene where they are in bed together the low-key lighting filters the light on the pillows - so it looks approximately the same color of Sarah's dress that she wore the accident occurred. The color scheme between the scene with Emily as it flips back to Ben's memory of his fiancee dying shows that as he becomes closer to her, he is also reminded of his ending. As he spends more time with Emily Ben is subconsciously reminded of the disaster that occurred before (Seven Pounds). One other parallel that connects Ben to his past, and the overall dark cast that is a harbinger to his death is the similarity shown in his death scene and his past. As he is dying Ben recalls his past, as the ultimatum for his decision to kill himself. The shower curtain falls,  the box jellyfish stings him and the ice he placed in the tub starts to scatter, it begins to look similar to the glass that shattered from the car in the crash. (Seven pounds). The tub Ben dies in looks much like a coffin, while a later parallel shows Emily in her tub listening to her new heart to feel connected to him. In comparison the view of her in the tub, Emily looks angelic and the tub's lighting appears like a halo.