THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
A film review by Mary V. Burke
Copyright 1991 Mary V. Burke
Starring Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, et al.; directed by Jonathan Demme.
I had the great pleasure of attending a sneak preview of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS here in Boston last night, courtesy of Premiere magazine, and let me not mince words--it's one of the best horror/suspense movies I've ever seen, and you should go see it the moment it opens. Period.
For the benefit of those who are not familiar with the novel by Thomas Harris on which the film is based, the plot centers around the search for a serial killer called Buffalo Bill who has been leaving a trail of partially flayed women's bodies. The FBI Behavioral Science Unit is on the case, and is hoping to enlist the aid of another serial killer currently in custody, the brilliant psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter (the old "Set a thief to catch a thief" tactic). Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee, is assigned to talk to him, and they develop an eerie sort of partnership in which he trades his insights on Buffalo Bill for glimpses into Clarice's soul.
I went into this movie with very high expectations, having read the book several times (and it is one hell of a good one), along with many others dealing with serial killer syndrome, factual and fictional. And I must say that, even though I knew what was going to happen and how everything would end, Demme's treatment was thoroughly gripping, suspenseful, and *scary*. There are some scenes that are rather disturbing, albeit not terribly graphic in the sense of large amounts of blood spraying around the room--just grim and gritty. There are some alterations to the story, but not really material ones; generally it's quite faithful to the novel, and hangs together very well. One moment in the search that seems like a complete anticlimax proves to be anything but that, and Demme engineers it so skillfully that you don't know for sure until the very last instant ... I don't want to give away any more about this bit, though.
The performances are uniformly fine. Jodie Foster gives us a character who is ambitious, smart, and strong, but is still working to gain mastery of herself, and to keep it in the company of a spiritual vampire like Lecter. I was a bit leery of Anthony Hopkins as Lecter, having seen Brian Cox's portrayal in MANHUNTER (based on Harris's previous novel, RED DRAGON), but he doesn't disappoint at all. His version of Lecter captures very well the creepy elegance of a brilliant but utterly twisted mind that thrives on reaching into other people's souls and finding where they hurt. There are a couple of places in the script where he lapses into cruelty laced with a crudeness that was a little jarring for me, as this isn't quite in keeping with Harris's portrayal of the character, but these weren't seriously detrimental. The scenes between him and Starling are full of tension, psychological sparring carried on through the glass or barred walls of Lecter's cages; the places where he is imprisoned are very medieval-looking, and while he sits quietly inside, Starling paces and prowls on the outside, looking for a way in ... it's all very engrossing.
I guess my only real complaint about the film would be that we don't get to see as much of Jame [sic] Gumb, the man who is Buffalo Bill, as I would have wished. Part of the fascination of serial killers is learning what the private fantasy is that makes them do what they do, in the particular way they do it; we don't get to see very much of Jame Gumb's world, although the glimpses we get are tantalizing and spooky. And I was a little bit annoyed that the last words he speaks in the book are omitted here, as they have the effect (to my mind, at least) of forming another of these weird bonds between killer and captor. But this is a minor cavil.
To summarize, this is a generally faithful and thoroughly effective treatment of an excellent novel, and sure to please anyone who appreciates suspense, psychological drama, and the type of horror that can only come from the real world. (And by the way, there are also some laughs in it--humor as black as you would expect under the circumstances.) Don't miss it.
MVB
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