The Silence of the Lambs
is one of the most influential films of the last 40 years. Jonathan Demme wasted no time adapting Ted Tally’s 1998 novel into a vehicle that earned Jodie Foster her second Oscar in three years and confirmed Anthony Hopkins was a movie star. The line between horror and thriller is drawn at the center of this film, and it pioneered both genres.
Jodie Foster & Anthony Hopkins Turn In Career-Best Performances
Both Actors Are Forever Remembered For Their Effective Roles In The Silence Of The Lambs
Jodie Foster is one of the greatest child actor successes in film and television history. We’ve never met a performer at 11 years old and seen them nominated for their fifth Oscar at 60. The characters she played in the 70s and 80s were part of the blueprint that modernized the roles actresses could play in the future, perhaps none more than Clarice Starling in The Silence Of The Lambs.
Before her stardom, it was far more common for a woman law enforcement agent to be an object in the eyes of her peers or such a hard ass that the character had no sense of depth. Foster approaches the role of Clarice with the same ferocity she is now famous for, but she also does not shy away from the vulnerability in the script.
The Silence of the Lambs is not a movie about catching Hannibal Lecter; it’s a movie about how getting to know him might make you a better FBI agent — at the cost of your own sanity.
Foster was the perfect casting because, even 32 years later, no one can go toe to toe with Anthony Hopkins at his peak. The chemistry they have as adversaries is the fuel The Silence of the Lambs runs on. The record for the shortest amount of screen time for an Oscar win belongs to Beatrice Wright for her five minutes and forty seconds in Network. However, number seven on that list is Anthony Hopkins’s 16-minute portrayal of Hannibal Lecter.
Though anyone who’s seen the film will tell you it feels like more. The Silence of the Lambs is not a movie about catching Hannibal Lecter; it’s a movie about how getting to know him might make you a better FBI agent — at the cost of your own sanity.
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It’s easy to forget, but Hopkins was not a movie star before this film. Neither the critics nor the box office were particularly in love with his work, but he wasn’t a nobody, either, and he clearly had talent. So, when The Silence of the Lambs came along he was ready to turn in a performance so good that they could leave half of it on the cutting room floor and he would still walk away a winner at the 1992 Academy Awards.
The Silence Of The Lambs Heavily Influenced Movies & TV Shows Released Thereafter
The influence on how horror films interact with thrillers is one of the film’s greatest achievements. Buffalo Bill is inherently terrifying, but we never see him kill anyone. If it wasn’t for Lecter’s escape there would be almost no blood in the film. Yet if you insisted that it was a horror movie, I wouldn’t fight you on it. Hopkins looking at Foster is enough to give anyone nightmares. The flawlessly executed nightvision scene where we creepily follow Clarice from the perspective of a killer is genuinely terrifying. And every single one of those elements is thrilling.
The tone set by The Silence of the Lambs, both literally and culturally, is perhaps one of the biggest footprints in Hollywood today. Serial killers, dissecting their psychology, and the detectives who get in too deep with them are now all commonplace in not just horrors and thrillers but also in crime movies. Everything from Law & Order: SVU to Prisoners has at least a fraction of DNA drawn from The Silence of the Lambs.
Foster would go on to decline the sequel because she did not like that it was closer to the book.
The script penned by Thomas Harris took some liberties with the book’s material, but mostly in the name of making Clarice a better character, and that change worked perfectly. Ultimately, The Silence of the Lambs continues to be an all-time classic film. Its impact on movies is still being felt today, and it includes arguably the best performances of both Foster and Hopkins’ careers.
9/10
The Silence of the Lambs follows FBI trainee Clarice Starling, portrayed by Jodie Foster, as she seeks the help of imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins, to solve a series of gruesome murders. Directed by Jonathan Demme, this 1991 psychological thriller delves into the dark world of criminal profiling and the complex relationship between a young investigator and a brilliant, but dangerous, psychopath.
- Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins deliver top-tier performances that cemented their careers
- The film’s book changes work for the story
- The film is a good genre mix
- The Silence of the Lambs’ legacy is still felt today