The Silence of the Lambs (film)

The Silence of the Lambs (The silence of the lambs in Spain, and The Silence of the Innocents in Latin America) is a 1991 American film of the horror and psychological thriller genres. It was directed by Jonathan Demme and features Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins and Scott Glenn in the lead roles. The film is based on the homonymous novel by Thomas Harris, written in 1988 as a sequel to The Red Dragon (1981), by the same author, which tells the story of Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and at the same time serial killer and cannibal.

The film tells the story of Clarice Starling, a young FBI detective-in-training who seeks the help of Dr. Lecter in order to capture another serial killer known as 'Buffalo Bill'.

The Silence of the Lambs was released on February 14, 1991. It grossed $272.7 million at the box office, compared to its initial budget of $19 million, making it one of the most successful movies of the year The film was the third film to win all five major Academy Awards: Best Picture Oscar, Best Director Oscar (Jonathan Demme), Best Actor Oscar (Anthony Hopkins), Best Actress Oscar (Jodie Foster), and the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay (Ted Tally); a feat that had already been achieved by It Happened One Night in 1934 and by One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975. It is also the first horror film to win the Oscar for best picture, and the second to be nominated, a feat that had only been emulated in 1973, when The Exorcist was nominated in the same category. The Silence of the Lambs is considered a "cultural, historical and aesthetic" achievement by the US Library of Congress and the original film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2011.

Plot

The actors Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, and Ted Levine are the main cast of the film.

Clarice Starling, a young FBI investigator-in-training, interrupts her exercise routine in the woods of Quantico, Virginia, when summoned by Jack Crawford, agent in charge of the Behavioral Sciences Unit. Starling is tasked with submitting a questionnaire to psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter, a serial killer and cannibal who is incarcerated.

Starling transfers to the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, whose director is Dr. Frederick Chilton. The reason for the meeting is to obtain information about the psychopath and serial killer nicknamed "Buffalo Bill", who kills young women and later removes skin from their bodies. Crawford believes that Lecter's knowledge can help capture "Bill", whose psychological profile and information Starling must obtain through Lecter's collaboration. He is polite and cordial to Starling most of the time, though throughout the conversation he repeatedly hurls personality-related taunts at her, using a mix of well-chosen words and facial and body expressions, until Starling snaps back at him. what he intended to do against her, at which point he refuses to help her in the case. However, when Starling starts to withdraw and Miggs, one of the inmates, throws his semen at her, Lecter asks her to come back and tells her to try and track down a former patient of his, whereupon Starling quickly leaves the place. Lecter's clue leads her to a warehouse where she discovers the head of a man with a butterfly cocoon in his throat. Starling returns to Lecter, who tells him that his patient was actually a man connected to Buffalo Bill, and offers to give him a profile of the killer on the condition that he be transferred away from Dr. Chilton, whom he hates.

In Memphis, Tennessee, Catherine Martin is driving home in her car when she is tricked and kidnapped by Buffalo Bill. Later, Bill's fifth victim is found in the Elk River off Clay County, West Virginia, and Starling participates in the autopsy with Crawford. The victim has been savagely slaughtered and diamond-shaped pieces of skin have been removed. Looking at a photo of her mouth, they find a chrysalis inside her throat. Starling takes the insect to entomologists who identify it as Acherontia styx, the death's-head butterfly, whose habitat is limited to parts of Asia. Panic spreads across the country when the news of Catherine's disappearance is broadcast on television and her mother, Senator Ruth Martin, sends a message to the kidnapper.

Starling returns to Hannibal Lecter and offers him a bogus deal devised by Crawford: if he provides information relevant to catching Bill and rescuing the girl, Senator Martin will transfer Lecter to a new institution where he can enjoy more freedom, walks on the beach and a window overlooking the outside. Lecter, however, offers Starling another deal, a quid pro quo in which she will have to answer private questions and he will give her answers about Buffalo Bill in return.

The deal is accepted and Lecter begins by asking the agent questions about her childhood memories and the death of her father. In turn, Hannibal explains that Bill seeks to transform and is prey to an obsession that makes him believe that he is transsexual, which is reflected in the metamorphosis of the butterfly chrysalis. He then adds that Bill was not born a criminal, but became one through years of systematic abuse, and that his quest for change stems from his self-hatred.

Meanwhile, Dr. Chilton has been secretly eavesdropping on the conversation between Lecter and Starling. Chilton warns Lecter that Crawford's proposal is a lie and offers him a new one: if he reveals Buffalo Bill's identity, he will be transferred to another mental institution, but only if Chilton gets credits for it. Lecter demands that he only provide that information to the senator in person, and Chilton agrees. Unbeknownst to the director, Lecter has managed to appropriate his pen, which he will later use.

At the Memphis airport, Lecter meets with the senator and torments her by taking advantage of her anguish. He reveals a false name of Buffalo Bill: "Louis Friend", which is actually an anagram that means nothing and which Clarice discovers. With this new information, the FBI resumes the search for Bill to save Catherine.

The next day, Starling and Lecter, who has been relocated to the Shelby County, Tennessee, Courthouse, have a conversation in which Starling tells him that one night, at the uncles' ranch where she had gone to live after the death of his father, he got up when he heard the screams of the lambs destined for the slaughter and tried frustratingly to save one. Hannibal asks if he still hears those cries, and if he thinks saving Catherine will silence them, which she agrees. Chilton shows up to stop Lecter from feeding Bill's data to Starling, who is led to the exit.

That same night, Lecter orders a second dinner of undercooked mutton chops. Using only the pen clip stolen from Dr. Chilton, which he has camouflaged in his hand, he manages to open the handcuffs and escape from the psychiatric hospital, killing the two officers in charge of watching him and pretending to be one of them by dressing in his uniform and using the skin of his face as a mask, pretending to be injured and thus managing to be evacuated. When the rest of the police realize the deception it is already too late. Later, Ardelia Mapp, Starling's partner, informs him that they have found the ambulance in which Lecter escaped, the dead medical personnel, and a murdered tourist whom he has stolen. However, Starling reassures her that she is not afraid that she will be targeted by Lecter. Following Lecter's recommendations, Starling and Mapp deduce that they should redirect the investigation to Buffalo Bill's first victim.

So Starling moves to Belvedere, Ohio and visits the home of Buffalo Bill's first victim, Fredrica Bimmel, learning that Bimmel was a seamstress. The clothes in the closet of the murdered young woman have patches identical to the skin torn from Bill's last victim found in the Elk River. Starling deduces that Bill seeks to transform himself by sewing a woman's dress out of human skin. He immediately phones Crawford, who informs him that the theory of transsexuality coincides with one of the sex change cases rejected by Johns Hopkins Hospital: Jame Gumb, who years before had imported live caterpillars from Suriname through the Los Angeles airport. and lives in Calumet City, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. Starling offers to travel to Chicago, but Crawford asks her to link Gumb to the Fredrica Bimmel case, so Clarice stays in Belvedere questioning friends of Bimmel's.

Stacy, one of Fredrica Bimmel's friends, tells Starling that Bimmel worked for Mrs. Lippman. At the same time that Crawford ambushes Gumb's Illinois residence finding it empty, Starling arrives at Lippman's home in Belvedere, Ohio. He is received by Jame Gumb himself, who tells him his name is Jack Gordon. Starling walks into the house and sees an African skull sphinx fly and land on one of multiple skeins of sewing thread; At that moment he understands that he has found the psychopath. He then asks her to use his phone and, when he shows signs of being caught, Starling pulls out his gun and attempts to arrest him. Bill, however, manages to flee into the multi-room basement of the house. Pursuing him, Starling finds Catherine locked in an open pit. As Clarice searches for Bill in the basement, the lights go out, leaving her in darkness. Gumb, using a pair of night vision goggles, follows Starling and engages his revolver. Hearing the click of the gun's firing pin, Starling quickly turns and fires at Gumb, who falls to his death. Finally, Starling rescues Catherine and calls the FBI.

During her honor graduation as a special agent at the FBI Academy, Starling receives a phone call from Lecter, who wants to know if the lambs have stopped screaming. Clarice tries to find out where Lecter is, but he tells her not to worry about her, because the world is more interesting with her in it, and that he would appreciate it if he reciprocated in the same way, but Starling refuses. Lecter says goodbye saying that he is going to "have dinner"; to an old friend's and hangs up. Finally, Lecter is shown in an Afro-Caribbean country where Dr. Chilton has just arrived by plane, who, anguished, asks the policeman who receives him for security measures, while Lecter begins to walk slowly behind him, at a certain distance.

Cast

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was composed by Howard Shore, who also collaborated with Demme on Philadelphia. It was recorded in the city of Munich (Germany) during the middle of the summer of 1990, and the orchestra of that city was selected for the musical funds. «I tried to write in a way that goes directly to the plot of the film [explains Shore in his approach]. When you try to watch the movie you are not aware of the music, but you get your feelings from all the elements simultaneously: lighting, cinematography, costumes, acting, and music."

Music from the film was later used in trailers for its sequel.

Reception

The film production was supported by critics and later by the public in the form of box office. He also popularized one of the most famous psychopaths, Hannibal Lecter, and received prizes as final recognition. Two sequels and a prequel later appeared thanks to that success.

Awards

Oscar

Saturn

BAFTA Awards

Prequels and sequels

• In 2001, the film was released Hannibalstarring Anthony Hopkins on Hannibal Lecter's role. It is based on the novel of the same title, which narrates the facts when Lecter reappears in Italy ten years after the events of The silence of the lambs.
• In 2002, the film was released Red Dragonstarring Anthony Hopkins on Hannibal Lecter's role. It is an adaptation of the previous novel about Lecter, The Red Dragon, which narrates facts prior to The silence of the lambs. This novel had already been brought to the cinema in 1986 with the title Manhunterbut his producer (Dino de Laurentiis) was not satisfied and decided to roll another adaptation.
• In 2007, the film was released Hannibal, the origin of evilstarring Gaspard Ulliel in Hannibal Lecter's role. It is a prequel, as both the story and the film date back to the origins of Lecter, but both were produced later.