"I've no plans to call on you, Clarice. The world is more interesting with you in it" and the world is more interesting for this film being in it!

Rating: 10/10 (13 July 2008)

Clarice Starling is a trainee FBI agent, and although we live in liberated times she is clearly regarded as decoration by most of her male compatriots, after all, she is a woman in a male dominated world. That said we know she is something special when she is the only one left in the elevator on the way to the top. She is asked to go on an assignment by Jack Crawford, a senior figure at the Bureau to profile serial killers, perhaps, to help profile a new killer, Buffalo Bill, a man who skins his victims, different patterns each time and all dumped in different places. The Killer she is given the job of profiling is the one that will not co-operate, the infamous killer Hannibal Lector, formerly a renowned psychiatrist before he went off the rails towards the siding known as insanity.
And so Clarice begins a series of interviews with Lector where they both attempt a kind of intellectual and emotional sparring as they try to find out more about each other. As they get to know each other, with Clarice giving more in terms of info and Lector giving more in terms of soul they become unwitting colleagues in the race to stop Bill adding to his list of victims.
This film is a modern classic in every sense of the word. The colour seems to have been bled from every frame leading to a drab and desolate world without hope or sympathy. The use of symbolism is some of the best I've ever seen with the bug motif occurring throughout and not just in terms of the killer's signature, be aware of how his eyes look in the night vision goggles, we know that Bees can see in ultra violet and the way in which his vision is turned into one colour is extremely bug-like, however the big parallel with bugs is at the end of the film (Spoiler alert) when we see the figure dying on the floor with the night vision goggles on, with the wounds on both sides of his chest, he dies like an insect, something that many people may not notice.
The film is also clever in its usage of more familiar symbolism to make us feel certain ways. As Bill's next victim is driving along we see her singing to a song on the radio, not just singing the main words but flitting between backing and the main lyrics, just the way we all do, making us far more concerned than we would be if she was just driving home, by showing her doing what we all do, she becomes us and we fear far more for her future fate.
However, this is not just a film about symbolism, this is a film about the decisions that we make and the decisions that we are forced to make. Clarice is sent on a path to the FBI after the death of her father, he was her world and all she seeks is his approval and by following in his footsteps it is the closest she can think to do that, this is a decision made by circumstance that is unavoidable, and she has no regrets over it. Hannibal by contrast goes fruit loop after dealing with endless whingy whiny patients with no problems when what he wants to do is deal with interesting problems. Somewhere along the way his mind snaps and the discussions that he would have no doubt enjoyed with Clarice are soured by the fact that there are bars between them, this regret is clearly etched on his face when they discus serial killers and Clarice says, so impassively, "No, you ate yours", she knows what he is and he doesn't impress her like his mighty intellect should, because he is a killer and to her that is all he is, and, as he realises this and looks away it is this regret that is revealing. Lector loves battling or discussing intellectual matters with equals, and so few ever came his way, and the regret he feels over meeting Clarice clearly too late is portrayed beautifully by Anthony Hopkins who gives the performance of a lifetime in giving us this killer who still contains within him a human soul.
This is the glory of this performance, although people have pointed out that his screen time is more warranting a supporting actor nod, there was simply no finer male performance, supporting or otherwise, and perhaps one of the greatest pieces of luck that the film enjoyed was Gene Hackman turning the role down. Anthony Hopkins doesn't just perform Lector, he inhabits him and we get treated to an amazing piece of acting that shows us that Serial Killers, the worst kind of people that there are, are still people, and that this is perhaps the saddest thing about them.
To add to this great performance Jodie Foster not only gave a good performance but matched Hopkins perfectly, showing all of Clarice's strength's and vulnerability with such stunning realism that we feel almost every shiver that goes through her skin as she trawls society's bottom step in order to stop a monster feasting endlessly on victims that society does not care much about. Scott Glenn rounds off this acting triumvirate with a measured controlled performance that exactly matches his character.
Jonathan Demme's direction is superb, the music compliments every scene with an uneasy balance that never allows you to settle in your seat and the script is first rate. After I thought about this film and considered how good it was I tried to think of some reason to give it a nine, and I couldn't. This film really is a ten and although the subject matter is not everyone's cup of tea, it is worthwhile for those who have a hard enough stomach.