The Silence of the Lambs is a psychological horror film based on Thomas Harris’ acclaimed novel and directed by Jonathan Demme. Jodie Foster stars as Clarice Starling, a tough FBI trainee who is hunting Buffalo Bill, a serial killer that skins his female victims. She seeks advice from the imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant and manipulative psychiatrist who is also a cannibalistic serial killer played by Anthony Hopkins. The Silence of the Lambs is the third film to win Academy Awards in all five of the major categories and is the only horror film to win Best Picture.
The most iconic scene is between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice where he expresses his fondness for eating “liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.” Demme is a unique director who frequently uses subjective shots to put his audience in the characters’ shoes and identify with what the character sees and how it affects what they feel. Hannibal Lecter’s piercing gaze directly into the screen and directly into Clarice is chilling and hypnotic: we are just as terrified as she is. Although the depiction of Buffalo Bill’s transgender identity is questionable through a contemporary lens, he is a memorable villain. One of the most well-known scenes is where he taunts his trapped victim to put the lotion on her skin and dances in front of the mirror while shapeshifting his body to resemble a woman’s.
The Silence of the Lambs uses its stellar performances and intimate visuals to immerse the viewer in its twisted world. For those interested in Hannibal Lecter, there is also David Fincher’s Red Dragon and the television show Hannibal, macabre works that lean heavily into gothic horror. The Silence of the Lambs is comparable to another Fincher film, the taut thriller Zodiac. While Fincher has a more clinical and detached directing style, the film is another tale of evil seeping into everyday life and the brave investigators who try to infiltrate the corrupt mind of a killer.