Psychologically thrilling until you've fallen from your chair.

Rating: 9/10 (1 January 2011)

The Silence of the Lambs is a film directed by Jonathan Demme, adapted from the Thomas Harris novel of the same name. It currently stands (at the time of this review) as my favorite film of all time.
The plot follows FBI agent in-training Clarice Starling, who is called in by Jack Crawford to get some inside collective information on the mind of a murderer by imprisoned, former psychiatrist Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter. Starling uses Hannibal's intellect to help track down the serial killer dubbed "Buffalo Bill".
Starling is ambitious and keen, albeit somewhat naive. Lecter (my favorite film villain of all time) is intellectual, courteous, and classy. The more he and Starling interact, the more he learns about her, and affects her mind, all the while helping her figure out the identity of Buffalo Bill.
Howard Shore delivers a chilling score that blends quite nicely with the theme and tone of the performances and pacing, similar to his great score in The Fly (1986).
The film offers a brutally realistic aspect of the mindset of particular murderers. It's frightening, and Anthony Hopkins and Ted Lavine's performances in particular add a huge weight to the presentation.
My favorite scene in the film is when Starling tells Lecter the story about the ranch and her lamb, explaining the title of the movie. As the scene progresses, the camera switches back and forth between the two, getting closer to Lecter's grim complexion every time it switched back to him. The scene represents Lecter's slow but deep integration into Starling's mind as he reads her further as she continues to talk.
The climax is exciting and throws you for a complete loop. At the end of it all you just feel almost out of breath with widened eyes, no explosion required. Lecter can be antagonizing when he wants to be, vague, teasing, and observational. He does so much with such a limited amount of space, and is like a ghost when he escapes his confinement at last.
The Silence of the Lambs is a character study, and a great one at that.