I’ve always been a firm believer that horror movies in the old days were much scarier than the ones they come up with now. Not only is subtlety more intense than gratuitous violence, but I think the things you’re capable of imagining are far more frightening than anything that can be shown to you. Especially if you have a dark soul and twisted mind like me ;) A lot of movies these days claim to be psychological thrillers, but very few live up to the hype the way “The Silence of the Lambs” does. All you need to be called a psychological thriller now are some loud noises during quiet and an ending where someone ends up being dead or dreaming all along. Cannibalism, gender-bending and suits made of other people’s skin are just some of the treats that await you in the movie that really turned Jonathan Demme’s career around and made him a credible and serious director.
FBI Academy Student Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) who is on the verge of graduating receives an assignment from her mentor Agent Crawford to interview incarcerated serial killer/people-eater Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). Unfortunately for the FBI Lecter is the best kind of profiler given his own inside knowledge of criminal behavior. Previous attempts to pick his brain regarding an at-large serial killer Buffalo Bill have been unsuccessful and Crawford works under the assumption that sending Clarice to interview him might yield better results.
The sense of urgency to capture Buffalo Bill accelerates when his next victim is the daughter of longtime U.S. Senator Ruth Martin. The ensuing subplot shows her daughter Catherine being imprisoned and tortured by Buffalo Bill. She fits the profile of all his previous victims, who he has been skinning in order to make suits from their flesh as an unsophisticated form of gender reassignment.
From the moment Hannibal and Clarice meet it is obvious that Lecter is not going to be the monster he is built up to be offscreen. He is well-versed and even stands when he greets her. Despite some initial conflict between the two a strange bond beings to form between Clarice and Hannibal. It is up in the air as to what the nature of it could be but as the film progresses it becomes evident that their connection is almost paternal, a conclusion that is only reinforced by the revelation that Clarice has had trouble bonding with men since the death of her beloved father.
Despite the fact that she is very competent, none of the men who come into contact with Clarice seem to respect her. Lecter’s attending doctor shamelessly hits on her, the small town police who find a corpse she has to analyze don’t take her seriously and even the other inmates at Lecter’s facility openly mock her. Hannibal on the other hand respects her, never talks down to her despite his intellectual superiority to everyone he comes into contact with and even develops an enhanced hatred of his caseworker once he sees him criticizing Clarice. The most revealing aspect of their relationship comes in a moment of no dialogue- Clarice is passing some paperwork to Hannibal through his sliding food drawer when he caresses her hand in an entirely asexual way.
When Hannibal agrees to help Clarice in exchange for relocation for the duration of his incarceration the contrast between Lecter and Buffalo Bill begins to take shape as we see the dramatic differences between the two serial killers. Buffalo Bill is a backwoods hillbilly with crude methods while Lecter is an educated and refined doctor. By making the differences between the two horrific criminals so clear the film humanizes people generally depicted in very broad strokes but doesn’t attempt to make us feel sympathy for them, as doing so would lessen the psychological control they have over the audience.
“I've no plans to call on you, Clarice. The world is more interesting with you in it.” (Hannibal Lecter, “The Silence of the Lambs”)
During one particularly disturbing exchange between Clarice and Lecter, she is speaking to him from the outside of his plexi-glass cell. The camera is focused on her, but as the two converse you can see Hannibal’s reflection the entire time. Shooting the scene in such an innovative way shows a two-way conversation where we can see both participants head-on. This allows the viewer to see each character reacting to the other as well as gives equal time to both parties, thus neither is the dominant one, which is especially important in establishing Clarice’s character as an equal to Lecter.
The last part of the film lags slightly as Lecter escapes incarceration and Clarice inadvertently falls right into the hands of Buffalo Bill, though there is a very intense showdown in his house that features an amazing night-vision stalking of Clarice as the subdued screams of Catherine Martin can be heard in the background.
99% of what makes this movie work is the casting. Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal of Hannibal Lecter revolutionizes the movie villain. Even after seeing what the man is capable of, there is a part of you that is always pulling for him. He escapes incarceration, kills his guards and reenters society and all the while you are almost happy for him. However at the same time you never trust him, you always question his motives and you always wait for him to do something deceptive. He gives you every reason to like him but in the back of your mind you always know you can’t.
The casting of Clarice is equally brilliant. An overly glamorous actress would have made this character hard to believe and almost insulting, whereas a more “butch” actress would have done nothing to establish Clarice as any kind of anomaly in terms of a woman trying to break into a male-dominated career field. She is not physically imposing but she is also not dainty or harmless.
What makes “The Silence of the Lambs” so frighteningly ingenious is the fact that you hear so little specifically about the things that Hannibal has done, but they are constantly referenced as being horrific to the point of unimaginable. As a result of this, the film gets into your head like nothing I’ve ever seen before, particularly in terms of being constantly on edge during any scene with Lecter in it. The air of caution and paranoia is always there to such an extent that it creates a strong “point of view” feeling; you can share any character’s apprehension about just being near the man, making you aware all along that you are being led into a false sense of security.
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