Superb Psycho-Thriller

Rating: 9/10 (13 June 2015)

Director Jonathan Demme and author/screenwriter Harris/Tally are all very talented, but they really outdid themselves here. The more I watch this film, the better it gets. Just the close-up shots of Hannibal Lecter's (Anthony Hopkins) and Clarisse Starling's (Jodie Foster) faces.
I recently saw it for the 5th time with my daughter, who saw it for the 1st time. She was on the edge of her seat just as I remember, while I enjoyed the deft plotting, the great characterization, even of side-characters (like the self-absorbed psychiatrist Chilton), who were painted with sparse but knowing strokes.
Hopkins and Foster are just perfectly cast, doing the perfect mannerisms, the perfect accents, the perfect everything. The supporting cast is also outstanding, from Starling's boss, who uses her as bait to engage dangerous psychopath Lecter to solve a serial murder case, to the unpleasant psychiatrist Chilton, to the victim held captive in a pit by the serial killer, all the way to the psychopathic serial killer who is sowing himself a female identity out of his victim's skins.
The clues abound, and while obvious in hindsight, are subtle enough to be interesting: Southeast Asian moth = criminal is a Vietnam War veteran. Seamstress patterns in closets to reveal where the perpetrator must have learned the sowing trade.
Although the gore is very sparse in this film, it is really shocking, and built up just right to cause maximum suspense and "yech" factor. The director manages to make you wince even when you don't get to see all that much.
So why "only" 9/10? After many viewings, I think more and more that the cutting between Starling and her boss at the end, when he enters the wrong house, is too cheap a trick to show that he ended up tracking the wrong person. Likewise, the "break into the storage" scene lays on the difficulties with forced entry a bit much. Hitchcock would have stayed away from such low-grade suspense devices. Sometimes less is more. Still, this film is better than a few of the grandmaster's thrillers, and that's saying something coming from a fan who saw his first Hitch while the grandmaster was still filming them!