Silence of the Lambs - Review

The Silence of the Lambs - 1990.
Director - Jonathon Demme.
Starring - Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Scott Glenn
Rating - 8.3/10

The Silence of the Lambs is the ruler by which all thriller movies are measured. The film centres around a young FBI agent, Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster). Starling is sent to interview renowned psychiatrist, turned cannibalistic serial killer; Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). The FBI approach Lecter as a last resort in their frantic search for Buffalo Bill, a serial killer terrorizing America's mid-west. Lecter's morbid curiosity concerning Starling's past, forces her to face her demons and down into a darkness from which she may never surface.

In watching the movie it's not hard to see how it walked away with five academy awards at the 1991 Oscar's, the Demme flick is a prime example of how good cinema doesn't age; no matter the number of times you watch this film, the nail-biting, stomach churning suspense never subsides. It's like watching it for the first time, every time. 

Demme's direction is show stopping throughout, the gentle, soothing music coupled with the brutal actions of Lecter are a sharp contrast to Hitchcock and his favour for shrill, staccato. The cinematography in this film is stand alone, the use of set to create ambiance is impeccable. The fluid movement of the camera is as though you're in the room, seeing things unfold first hand. 

As for the performance in "Silence", Anthony Hopkins' electrifying, bone chilling rendition of Hannibal Lecter creates the atmosphere of the whole film, the movie does not begin with him, as much as it arrives with him; although it certainly hangs on the cliff with him. Hopkins' punctuation of every sentence with "Clarice" and his unblinking stare; make Hannibal terrifying for more reasons than just "he eats people". He scares us because of his unsettling ability to climb inside the human psyche and take the wheel, never since Hopkins has this been re-created to the same effect. Jodie Foster set the bar for her whole career with Silence of the Lambs, Clarice is the heart of the movie. Fosters adaptation is the reason we see Hannibal as he is, she sees the parallels to herself in Hannibal; and much in the way of Stanislavsky's 'naturalism' we see her (Foster) reactions to the story shining though Clarice. 

I mentioned earlier that good cinema doesn't age, take Ryan Murphy's insatiably popular American Horror Story, not only does it take the entire opening sequence from David Fincher's 'Se7en'; another chilling thriller from the 90's. American Horror Story's second season takes almost all the elements of 'Buffalo Bill' and re-works them into his 'original' protagonist 'Bloody Face.'

The Silence of the Lambs has become one of the most influential thrillers of all time, and its no secret as to why.