Scott's camera lingers on Verger's literally defaced visage wallowing in the sure knowledge of its devastating effect. In his days as revered psychiatrist, Lecter had convinced this drugged charge to cut off his own face and feed it to the dogs. Before we even know of his character's child molesting past, Oldman has managed to work up from beneath Verger's restrictive mask the distinctive whiff of evil. It is there in those soulless, greedy eyes and in his insipid, thin whine of a voice. Verger, whose power lies in his family's money, tells Clarice that he can, from time to time, bank on the co-operation of a willing senator or two.
All restraint is cast aside in a nasty carnival-style descent into pure farce.
Let's just hope that his next outing will see him bolstered on all sides by a script worthy of his potential.