A
psychopath nicknamed Buffalo Bill is murdering young women across the Midwest.
Believing it takes one to know one, the FBI sends Agent Clarice Starling
to interview a demented prisoner who may provide clues to the killer's
actions. That prisoner is psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant,
diabolical cannibal who agrees to help Starling only if she'll feed his
morbid curiosity with details about her own complicated life. As their
relationship develops, Starling is forced to confront not only her own
hidden demons but also an evil so powerful that she may not have the courage
- or strength - to stop it!
"Tell me, Clarice
- have the lambs stopped screaming?"
- Hannibal Lecter |
When broken down to its raw story Silence of the Lambs appears to be an almost formulaic crime film: The central narrative focuses on Clarice Starling a rookie cop chasing a serial killer and all the requisite clichés of the genre are evident, including social isolation of the central protagonist and a climactic chase that concludes the final act. However, critical opinion and a clutch of Academy Awards would suggest that Silence of the Lambs is something much greater than a generic cop film. Arguably it is the inclusion of the character of Hannibal Lecter that separates Silence of the Lambs critically, while also propelling the film towards generic hybridity. Indeed, it is easy to forget how few scenes the character is in since Lecter remains
omniscient to the film as a whole, sorely missed when absent.
To many it is impossible to think of Silence of the Lambs without remembering Anthony Hopkins' powerful portrayal of the enigmatic Dr. Lecter. From our first meeting Lecter dominates our attention and it is clear to the audience that this underused character is the more interesting villain within the film. In Lecter we are offered a fearsome intellectual, who may victimize us as he sees fit. His killing of the insane criminal in the neighboring cell, without any physical contact serves as testament to that.
The chilling silence and composure of Lecter is made all the more ominous when one compares him to the focus villain Buffalo Bill. As a character Buffalo Bill is less pronounced than Hannibal and Demme seems to have depended on crude stereotypes
rather than characterization. His pierced nipple, poodle and penis tucked between legs appear as cheap sensationalized representations confirming his stance as a classical deviant, ripe for a homophobic audience. The subtle touch applied to Lecter's characterization is absent and as such the audience tends to forget Buffalo Bill more easily. This perhaps explains why we are so keen to see Lecter at the end; he is the more sculpted villain. However, from Buffalo Bill many themes of Silence of the Lambs become apparent, most specifically the idea that criminality and villainy is the result of society's influence rather than hereditary inheritance. In Starling however one could argue that the hardships of childhood have had a profoundly different effect; they have inspired her to strive for greatness. The death of her father is shown numerously throughout the film, through the use of brief flashbacks. Coupled with this is the emotional scaring that her uncle has dealt and her many years of striving to be recognized and respected, despite that fact that society as a whole regards her as nothing more than one generation from poor white trash'. Starling oozes ambition and pride, yet one may suggest that she is disadvantaged by virtue of her class and sex, striving for equality in the FBI male hierarchy. At times she seems physically smaller than male colleagues and her stance as a trainee suggests that she is innocent and naïve. In spite of adversity she persists with her determination and fearlessness categorizing her as a desirable
female role model.
As an entire entity Silence of the Lambs is difficult to define within standard genre frameworks; indeed the inclusion of Dr Lecter's subplot opens the film to a vast array of generic labels. Although the climactic chase at the end is heavily immersed in the stock situations and relevant iconography of the cop genre, the taut meetings between Starling and Lecter convey a degree of suspense that would typically be attributed to a thriller or mystery film. Alternatively, the film may be described as a horror film,
given the number of bodies discovered and Demme's frequent use of explicit post-mortem investigations. Indeed, critic Roger Ebert argues that `[all the] universal phobias and dreads [are all to present in the movie]'. One thing is certain however; Silence of the Lambs is a modern masterpiece one that appears as potent and significant today some 15 years later.
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- Gene Hackman was first offered the role of Hannibal Lecter, and
was set to direct, but he withdrew after watching a clip of himself in Mississippi
Burning at the The 61st Annual Academy Awards, which made him uneasy
about taking more violent roles. When Jonathan Demme took over as director,
he offered the role of Clarice first to Michelle Pfeiffer and also to Meg
Ryan.
- Then Secretary of Labor, Elizabeth Dole's, Washington, D.C. office doubled
for that of the F.B.I. director's office in the movie.
- The Tobacco horn worm moths used throughout the film were given celebrity
treatment by the filmmakers. They were flown first class to the set (in
a special carrier), had special living quarters (rooms with controlled
humidity and heat) and were dressed in carefully designed costumes (body
shields bearing a painted skull & crossbones)
- A large part of the shoot took place in Pittsburgh. The city was chosen
for its variety of landscapes and architecture, which was necessary to
portray various parts of the country. All the film's interiors were constructed
and shot in an abandoned Pittsburgh factory.
- Only the third movie to win all five major Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director,
Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. The others were Frank Capra's It
Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
- Anthony Hopkins described his voice for Hannibal Lecter as, "a combination
of Truman Capote and Katharine Hepburn."
- After the shootout with Gumb, Starling has partially burned gunpowder buried
in the skin on the side of her face, the result of a near-miss. One name
for this type of injury is "coal miner's tattoo" - a clever reference to
the character's background.
- Upon close inspection, the butterfly in the posters for the movie
appears to have a human skull at its center. However, upon very close inspection,
this "skull" turns out to be at least three naked women (clearly seven
in some versions of the poster) and is very similar to a 1951 photograph
by Philippe Halsman, inspired by a Salvador Dalí drawing and gouache
painting.
- Buffalo Bill is the combination of three real life serial killers:
Ed Gein, who was skinning his victims; Ted Bundy, who used the cast on
his hand as bait to make women get into his van; and Gary Heidnick, who
kept women he kidnapped in a pit in his basement.
- George A. Romero has a cameo as the bearded man who accompanies
Chilton and the two guards who forcibly remove Clarice Starling after her
final meeting with Lecter.
- In his first meeting with Clarice Starling, Lecter describes the
drawing on his cell wall as "the Duomo, seen from the Belvedere" in Florence,
Italy. Starling later finds Buffalo Bill living in Belvedere, Ohio. Lecter,
in fact, gives her Buffalo Bill's location in their first meeting.
- In Hannibal's last words to Clarice before Dr. Chilton has her
removed, he stresses the word "simplicity". This was not just an urging
to her to keep things simple, but was a reference to the dress pattern
company Simplicity.
- When Jonathan Demme filmed the scene where Lecter and Starling
first meet, Anthony Hopkins said he should look directly at the camera
as it panned into his line of sight. He felt Lecter should be portrayed
as "knowing everything."
- Anthony Hopkins invented the fast, slurping-type sound that Hannibal
Lecter does. He did it spontaneously during filming on the set, and everyone
thought it was great. Director Jonathan Demme became annoyed with it after
a while, but denied his irritation.
- The first moth cocoon found in one of the victim's throats was
made from a combination of "Tootsie-Rolls" and gummy bears, so that if
she swallowed it, it would be edible.
- The film originally was going to be released in the fall of 1990.
However, Orion pictures, which distributed the film, decided instead to
delay its release until January 1991 so that it could concentrate all their
efforts in promoting Dances with Wolves for Oscar consideration.
- In preparation for his role, Anthony Hopkins studied files of
serial killers. Also, he visited prisons and studied convicted murderers
and was present during some court hearings concerning serial killings.
- With less than 16 minutes of screen time, Anthony Hopkins's performance
was the shortest ever to win a leading acting Oscar.
- Note Lecter's mention of having consumed a victim's liver with,
specifically, fava beans and chianti. Liver, fava beans, and wine all contain
a substance called tyramine, which can kill you if you're talking a certain
class of antidepressant drugs known as MAO inhibitors. MAO inhibitors were
the first antidepressant drugs developed, and were used primarily on patients
in mental institutions ... and Lecter both worked in, and was committed
to, a mental institution.
- A corpse in the movie is found suspended from the ceiling of Lecter's
cell, arrayed in what is known as a "blood eagle", which was a method of
torture and execution in ancient Scandinavia. It involved the removing
the skin of a man's back, crushing his ribs, then removing the lungs through
the back. The lungs would then be arranged about the shoulders or arms
to make them appear as wings.
- In preparation for their roles, homemade audio tapes that serial
killers had recorded while torturing and killing captured victims were
made available to both Jodie Foster and Scott Glenn. Foster declined to
listen to the tapes, and Glenn regretted having done so because he couldn't
forget what he had heard.
