The Silence of the Lambs

Plot synopsis:
FBI trainee Clarice Starling is pulled from her training at the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia by Jack Crawford of the Bureau's Behavioral Science Unit. He assigns her to interview Hannibal Lecter, a former psychiatrist and incarcerated cannibalistic serial killer, whose insight might prove useful in the pursuit of a serial killer nicknamed "Buffalo Bill", who skins his female victims' corpses.
Starling travels to the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where she is led by Frederick Chilton to Lecter's solitary quarters. Although initially pleasant and courteous, Lecter grows impatient with Starling's attempts at "dissecting" him and rebuffs her. As she is leaving, one of the prisoners flicks semen at her. Lecter, who considers this act "unspeakably ugly", calls Starling back and tells her to seek out an old patient of his. This leads her to a storage shed where she discovers a man's severed head with a sphinx moth lodged in its throat. She returns to Lecter, who tells her that the man is linked to Buffalo Bill. He offers to profile Buffalo Bill on the condition that he be transferred away from Chilton, whom he detests.
Buffalo Bill abducts a U.S. Senator's daughter, Catherine Martin. Crawford authorizes Starling to offer Lecter a fake deal promising a prison transfer if he provides information that helps them find Buffalo Bill and rescue Catherine. Instead, Lecter demands a quid pro quo from Starling, offering clues about Buffalo Bill in exchange for personal information. Starling tells Lecter about the murder of her father when she was ten years old. Chilton secretly records the conversation and reveals Starling's deceit before offering Lecter a deal of Chilton's own making. Lecter agrees and is flown to Memphis, Tennessee, where he verbally torments Senator Ruth Martin and gives her misleading information on Buffalo Bill, including the name "Louis Friend".
Starling notices that "Louis Friend" is an anagram of "iron sulfide" — fool's gold. She visits Lecter, who is now being held in a cage-like cell in a Tennessee courthouse, and asks for the truth. Lecter tells her that all the information she needs is contained in the case file. Rather than give her the real name, he insists that they continue their quid pro quo and she recounts a traumatic childhood incident where she was awakened by the sound of spring lambs being slaughtered on a relative's farm in Montana. Starling admits that she still sometimes wakes thinking she can hear lambs screaming, and Lecter speculates that she is motivated to save Catherine in the hope that it will end the nightmares. Lecter gives her back the case files on Buffalo Bill after their conversation is interrupted by Chilton and the police, who escort her from the building. Later that evening, Lecter kills his guards, escapes from his cell and disappears.
Starling analyzes Lecter's annotations to the case files and realizes that Buffalo Bill knew his first victim personally. Starling travels to the victim's hometown and discovers that Buffalo Bill was a tailor, with dresses and dress patterns identical to the patches of skin removed from each of his victims. She telephones Crawford to inform him that Buffalo Bill is trying to fashion a "woman suit" of real skin, but Crawford is already en route to make an arrest, having cross-referenced Lecter's notes with hospital archives and finding a man named Jame Gumb, who once applied unsuccessfully for a sex-change operation. Starling continues interviewing friends of Buffalo Bill's first victim in Ohio while Crawford leads an FBI HRT team to Gumb's address in Illinois. The house in Illinois is empty, and Starling is led to the house of "Jack Gordon", who she realizes is actually Jame Gumb, again by finding a sphinx moth. She pursues him into his multi-room basement, where she discovers that Catherine is still alive, but trapped in a dry well. After turning off the basement lights, Gumb stalks Starling in the dark with night-vision goggles, but gives his position away when he cocks his revolver. Starling reacts just in time and fires all of her rounds at Gumb, killing him.
Sometime later, at her FBI Academy graduation party, Starling receives a phone call from Lecter, who is at an airport in Bimini. He assures her that he does not plan to pursue her and asks her to return the favor, which she says she cannot do. Lecter then hangs up the phone, saying that he is "having an old friend for dinner", and starts following a newly arrived Chilton before disappearing into the crowd.

Tags: dark, suspenseful, gothic, murder, neo noir, psychological, mystery, dramatic, cult, violence, horror, atmospheric, flashback, good versus evil, romantic, revenge

Review:
It is a powerful example of how great a movie can be when superb writers, directors, actors, and others work at the top of their craft.`Silence of the Lambs' is  the story of a young FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) who is summoned to help find one serial killer called `Buffalo Bill.' by interviewing another.
While Anthony Hopkins receives most of the (well-deserved) praise for his chilling portrayal of incarcerated serial killer `Hannibal the Cannibal' Lector', it is Foster's performance that holds the movie together.
He still is one of the key elements in this wonderful thriller, which sees Jodie Foster's Clarice Starling asking for Lecter's help to catch another killer.The result is a dangerous yet fascinating relationship between the young, unexperienced FBI-agent and the convicted,but basically omnipotent, psychiatrist.He's a step ahead of everyone all the time, and makes sure everyone notices, with his witty, unforgettable one-liners.If there had to be only one reason to worship this movie, then it would have to be the chemistry between the two leading actors.Never before has a non-sexual man/woman connection been more thrilling.Never before has a film's ending been more unsettling and brilliant and left us asking for more.Best watched with a nice Chianti...P.S. dear film-buffs, have the lambs stopped screaming?.
Little did I realize how well-received this film would be and how it propelled Anthony Hopkins to super-stardom.Although entertaining, this is not always a fun movie to watch, especially with the scenes with Ted Levine who plays the killer, "Buffalo Bill." "Bill" and his kidnapped young woman are sick and profane people, respectively, and their scenes are very unpleasant.
There also is some extreme crudeness in the jail/dungeon where Lecter and other inmates are held.Jodie Foster is excellent as the FBI agent "Clarice Starling" and Scott Glenn is low-key and effective as "Jack Crawford." A major part of the film is psychological more than violent as Lecter constantly taunts "Clarice," while she tries her best to manipulate him to help with a case.
The looks on his face, his fascinating vocabulary with intelligent sarcasm and frankness, never ceases to entertain."Silence Of The Lambs" has turned into a modern-day "classic." If by some odd chance you have never seen this movie, be warned it is a dark, difficult story to watch at times....but it will get your mind off other things..
"The Silence of the Lambs" deals with a young FBI cadet (Oscar-winner Jodie Foster) who is sent to interview a captured madman (Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins in one of the greatest performances ever on the screen) to find out about a serial killer (Ted Levine) who is stripping the skin from his female victims after they die.
After all these years The Silence of the Lambs remains in a league of its own and is a perfect exemplification of just how great a movie can become when all the right elements come together and work in perfect harmony to form a complete whole.Based on the novel of the same name, Jodie Foster stars as Clarice Starling, a top student at the FBI's training academy.
FBI agent Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a genius psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism.
Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case of a serial killer called Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), that murders and skins his victims and that Starling as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to make him help with the case.The direction by Jonathan Demme is marvelous, as the film introduces its chilling sense of dread and has the audience on the edge of their seats, from the moment Howard Shore's ominous score hits the screen till the end of the film, especially during the climax with a lot of perfectly crafted suspenseful and nail-biting moments.
Anthony Hopkins as the genius psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter is the perfect amalgamation of charisma, high intelligence and destructive violence, and gives a bone-chilling and memorable performance that will stand the passage of time as one of the absolute best.
Due to the charisma and electrifying chemistry between the two actors every scene they share becomes an instant classic.In conclusion, the Silence of the Lambs is one of the greatest films ever made and a masterwork of brilliant direction, smart screenplay, splendid camerawork, tight editing, marvelous score and exquisite performances, that cemented the legacy of both Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster by engraving their iconic characters into the annals of cinema.
STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits Rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is assigned to get into the mind of notorious incarcerated serial killer Dr Hannibal 'the Cannibal' Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) to get his evaluation on the elusive Buffalo Bill, a serial killer who's been abducting and killing young women.
You have a nice shootout on the end with Clarice and Buffalo Bill and Clarice get's her man, spoils her plans saves the hostage and saves the day.The Silence of the Lambs is the 1991 thriller that was the feature film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Thomas Harris and marked the first appearance of Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
(Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins in one of the greatest performances ever on the screen) Dr.Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter, is a brutal killer with revolting methods and habits, but he's also very intelligent, charismatic and with good taste (you can interpret that as you like).
This flick got five major Academy Awards ("Oscars" for Best Movie, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay) it is no wonder why.Plot: FBI recruit Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is asked by the Bureau to elicit Lecter's help in tracking down a notorious serial killer who has kidnapped a US Senator's daughter.
Hopkins would reprise his role as Lecter in two more films: Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002).Real life killer Ed Gein was the inspiration for Buffalo Bill as well as the inspiration for Norman Bates from Psycho and Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies.
This film is fun, intense, very well fast paced goes quickly around for those two hours.The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 American horror-thriller film directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, and Scott Glenn.
In the film, Clarice Starling, a young U.S. FBI trainee, seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Lecter to apprehend another serial killer, known only as "Buffalo Bill".This movie is a perfect 10 out of 10, it takes the vision of one of the most imaginative directors on Earth (Jonathan Demme) with a brilliant cast including Thomas Harris novel that was adapted from it.
In fact, it won't be a hyperbole, that Anthony Hopkins's portrayal of cannibalistic Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs and more so in its sequel, Hannibal (which is my favorite of the series, as the story completely revolves around Lecter, giving him more exposure), is one of the best, the world of cinema has ever seen or offered.
Jonathan Demme's astute adaptation of Thomas Harris' last good book entwines the horror and detective genres to enduringly shocking effect, while Anthony Hopkins' Lecter and Jodie Foster's Starling fizz up an unsettling chemistry that was utterly lacking in the sequel.I haven't seen a movie this perfectly wrapped in a while.
Despite having some reservations of Brian Cox as Hannibal in MANHUNTER you do believe his burly presence does have the physical strength to overpower his victims , not so Hopkins I know it's very difficult , perhaps even impossible , but the best way to enjoy this movie is to erase from your mind the fact that it's one of only three movies to have picked up the Oscar in all five main categories , the fact that it made headlines about being the most terrifying film committed to celluloid , and the fact that it stands as the 28th best movie ever on this website .
I would like to stay more in the performance of Anthony Hopkins that is really majestic and gives the film more quality.Hopkins gets to the skin of his role and makes you to feel that he is a real psycho killer.Also the direction is perfect by Demme and makes the viewers to be absorbed by the fight of the FBI agent Clarice Starling and Dr. Hannibal Lecter.Jodie Foster fairly wins the Academy Award for Best Actress in Leading Role..
The movie manages to perfectly capture the thrilling atmosphere of the novel, and for that reason alone, is a strong film in its own right.Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter is chilling right from his first shot.
After a string of bizarre murders, FBI agent-in-training Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is hired to interview psychopath Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) to find the perpetrator.
And no one would have expected the film to have a binary structure with a classic serial-killer's investigation in one hand, and a subplot involving one of the greatest movie villains of all-time and his interaction with the heroine, on the other.The script is tightly constructed, patiently leading us to assemble each piece of the puzzle until the series of interactions between Clarice and Hannibal approaches a disturbing truth.
And it's no surprise that the film topped many list from the American Film Institute, #5 of AFI's 100 Thrills, #6 heroine, and good ol' Hannibal as number one movie villain, and he wasn't even the main antagonist in the film, which says as much as his winning the Oscar for less than 20 minutes on-screen, to find a character with the same cinematic aura, I guess we would go back to Vito Corleone."The Silence of the Lambs" reinvented the horror genre as the kind of movie that would have made Alfred Hitchcock proud : a scary villain, a sympathetic hero, a script respecting our intelligence, top-notch direction and editing, and for one thing, it didn't even need a twist ending.
He recruits the young FBI trainee Clarice Starling (played by Jodie Foster) to talk to the brilliant and cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter (played by Anthony Hopkins).
Jonathan Demme's tense thriller combines excellent actors and a wonderfully adapted screenplay to make, what seems to be one of the best, if not the best, thrillers of all time.The film follows three main stories, those being that of rookie FBI agent, Clarice Starling, the psychopath murderer Buffalo Bill and imprisoned psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, imprisoned for murder and cannibalism.
Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)**** (out of 4) Intense masterpiece about an FBI trainee (Jodie Foster) who is tracking down a perverted serial killer and must receive help from Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lector (Anthony Hopkins).
The bug guys, Miggs, the deputies at the funeral home in Elk River, the chauffeur who "detests physical labor."Jonathan Demme's directing is so brilliantly subtle that it's easy to overlook given the gripping story and the incredible acting, but the last time I watched the entire movie I did indeed, "feel eyes moving over Clarice's body." I'd read about this before, and undoubtedly processed it subconsciously, but I'd never seen it so starkly.
The Silence of the Lambs is an amazing one, while not my personal favourite of the year of 1991 it was a well deserved Best Picture win in my opinion.Jonathan Demme's direction is superb, the film is shot in a ceaselessly atmospheric manner and Demme never lets the suspense drop.
We're so distracted by cold, probing voice of the suave psychiatrist- turned-serial-killer (played with chilling calculation by Anthony Hopkins) that it's easy to forget that the film is ultimately about Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), a rookie FBI agent with a dark past.Clarice spent her adolescence trying to escape death – the shooting of her father, the slaughter of spring lambs on her neighbour's ranch – and sought to banish these memories by joining the FBI.
Dr. Lecter(Anthony Hopkins) truly is an unforgettable character and his conversations with inspector Clarice(Jodie Foster) were the best thing in this movie for sure.
There is a reason Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster, both(!!!) won an Oscar for this film, not to mention The Silence of the Lambs has 5 Oscars to its name altogether, surely the best movie of 1991.Doesn't matter what kind of movies you are into, you will thoroughly enjoy The Silence of the Lambs, it just has too many outstanding qualities, that it should be impossible to dislike this and even if there are any flaws, you will not notice them, since they get overshadowed by the super interesting and suspense storyline..
Jodie Foster's portrayal of the young and inexperienced FBI agent instructed to investigate the actions of a serial killer is as flawless as acting can be, inspiring many later performances from actresses in similar roles, and providing the audience with a first person narrative to stabilise some of the more horror-centred segments of the film.
Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins both deserved to win the Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress, they were brilliant in their roles from the beginning of the movie right to the very end.I recommend this movie for anyone (except for younger people, it is definitely not exactly an appropriate movie to show the kids - too much gore).Love this movie!.
Over 20 years after I first saw this film I have now decided to put 'pen to paper' so to speak and praise what I think is one of the most gripping murder movies made, with a host of actors from Jodie Foster, Scott Glenn,Anthony Heald, Ted Levine - who was a relative newcomer then - and of course Anthony Hopkins firmly at the top of their game.
This is the best of his Lecter performances, as the other movies, Hannibal and Red Dragon lack storyline and he needed a strong character like Jodie Foster who is incredible.
Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), a young rookie FBI agent, is enlisted to help in the hunt for a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine).
As Buffalo Bill kidnaps the daughter of an American senator the clock starts to tick downThe Silence of the Lambs is directed by Jonathan Demme and stars Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, and Ted Levine.
Based on the novel by Thomas Harris, it stars Jodie Foster as an eager beaver young FBI trainee who is sent by her superior (Scott Glenn) to interview an imprisoned murderer, the intelligent, cultured psychopath Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), in the hopes that he can lend his insight into the activities of "Buffalo Bill" (Ted Levine), a serial killer currently on the loose.
Silence of the Lambs is a horror/thriller film most notable for its character of Hannibal Lector a cannibalistic psychopath played by Anthony Hopkins.
At the same time I was giving my nervous system a workout, I was sitting there in awe of how well written the film was, how excellently defined and sketched all the characters were, how intellectually challenging the piece was, and how unbelievably good Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins performances were- thank God they both won Oscars.
"The Silence of the Lambs" is a movie in which a young FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) tries to get some information from Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) who is a psychopath and used to be a respected psychiatrist, for a psychopathic serial killer who skins his victims.
To get these information Clarice Starling has to gain the respect and the trust of Dr.Hannibal Lecter.When I saw this movie I thought that Anthony Hopkins is really not OK in his minds for real and that's because of his perfect interpretation.
Jonathan Demme's work in the direction of this film did not go unnoticed and he also won the Oscar for Best Director."The Silence of the Lambs" is a movie that you have to see it, it's a really good Thriller and Crime movie with many good scenes and an exceptional screenplay..
I think its so hard for a such stars like Anthony Hopkins and Jodie to produce Crime,Thriller movie at this time..Silence of the Lambs is a heart-racing thriller that has arguably one of the most interesting characters in cinema history, Hannibal Lector, a famous psychologist who also has Antisocial Personality Disorder.
Hannibal Lector is played by Anthony Hopkins and at the beginning of the movie, he is approached by a young, rising FBI agent, named Clarice Starling, played by Jodie Foster.
Each award was well deserved, with Best Director Jonathan Demme both marvellously pulling off the most gripping scenes and never losing sight of the human element of the picture, Best Actor Anthony Hopkins and Best Actress Jodie Foster both delivering unforgettable performances as the dangerously intelligent cannibal serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter and the less-than-perfect but strong willed rookie FBI Agent Clarice Starling, and Ted Tally's Best Adapted Screenplay both delivering snappy, quotable dialogue ("Oh, and Senator, one more thing: LOVE your suit!") and perfectly tapping into the mind of a serial killer.This is the horror film that they all want to be, but almost all of them won't.
Probably the most iconic thing about this movie is the characters and every character has something interesting about them whether it be an unhinged serial killer that has nothing else to lose or a young FBI agent trying to find her way in the world and the latter is what makes Clarice Starling such an excellent protagonist she gives the audience something to relate to in this film and Jodie Foster is absolutely amazing in this film she perfectly captures her characters wit, innocence and fear and is never anything less than convincing.
Great, tense thriller.An FBI agent-in-training, Clarice Starling (played by Jodie Foster) is given an assignment to interview infamous serial killer, Dr Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins).
Anthony Hopkins performance as the deranged genius Hannibal Lecter earned him a well deserved Academy Award and the same was true of Jodie Foster's performance as Clarice Starling.