Trainee FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is requested by the head of the FBI Behavioural Sciences department, Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) to assist in the hunt for Buffalo Bill, a serial killer who has been kidnapping, murdering and skinning young woman. In an attempt to get inside the mind of the serial killer, Clarice is dispatched to the Baltimore Mental Institution to interview the imprisoned psychiatrist, Dr Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) who himself became a serial killer.
As Clarice probes Lecter for information, she finds herself the subject of his amusement, as he toys with her emotions and gains information on her in return for his help. But soon she gets enough information to get a lead on Buffalo Bill, just as he kidnaps a Senator's daughter. As the hunt for the serial killer intensifies, Clarice finds herself strangely drawn back to Lecter as he manages to get into her head.
Opinion *********
Back in 1991 a film came out which got audiences flocking to the cinema, the film was "Silence of The Lambs", now 15 years later it is still as popular as ever and is now available in a Special Edition DVD format. It is one of the few films that I have gone to the cinema more than once to see and still enjoy watching over and over again, not just for what is a very good drama but also for some brilliant performances from Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster.
Although labelled a horror flick by some reviewers, it is definitely not in the tradition of most slasher flicks, it is much more intelligent than that, with most of the scary moments coming from brilliantly built up suspense and the psychology of Lecter getting in to Starlings head. In reality it is a brilliant combination of several film genres, firstly you have the detective side with the FBI in search of a serial killer, next you have the horror side with not only the gruesomeness of the serial killings but also the psychological side and finally it is also a coming of age movie, as we watch the character of Clarice grow from being a nervous recruit who is on the edge of failing and pressured out in a male orientated world into a confident woman in control of her destiny.
* The Story
The story is based upon the novel "The Silence of the Lambs" by Thomas Harris and in my opinion is one of the best horror/thrillers from the last century. Even though some critics have ripped it apart and highlighted some of
its flaws, I personally find it completely gripping on every level. In reality the film has two story lines running through it. The first and in some ways the most prominent of them is the hunt for the serial killer Buffalo Bill, lead by Clarice Starling and assisted by imprisoned serial killer Dr Hannibal Lecter. Not that I am an expert in the psychology or the ways and means that either the FBI or a serial killer operates, but I found this side of the film completely engrossing, as we watch clues fall into place as the FBI search for Buffalo Bill. The fact that Buffalo Bill's latest victim is the daughter of a Senator helps heighten the tension and not once does this side of the story drag, keeping the pace of the film at a perfect rate.
The second side of the film concentrates on the character of Clarice Starling and her relationship with Dr Hannibal Lecter. This in fact has two elements in itself; firstly we get to watch the character of Starling grow from a trainee FBI recruit who could possibly be on the verge of flunking out of the FBI, to a more confident woman. This is entwined with her relationship with Lecter as he manages to get inside her head with his psychological games and clues which are riddles. This is definitely a very strong part of the film and is no doubt down to some brilliant performances from Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins which makes it work so exceptionally well.
Put all these elements together and you have in my opinion one of the best storylines for a film from the last century. Neither one of the main elements takes precedence over the other, and in doing so work brilliantly together to make the film thoroughly engrossing from start to finish.
* Characters and Cast
I've already brushed upon the performances of the two main leads but I cannot really express how crucial they are to the success of the movie, mainly because the interaction between the two was spot on perfect and so justified the Oscars that they each won for leading male and female performances. Jodie Foster puts in a brilliant performance as Clarice Starling and fits the character perfectly. Quite often when you have a star in a major role you end up drawing similarities between their character and any previous characters which they have played. In the case of Clarice, Foster manages to make the character unique and not once did I find myself thinking I had seen her do the same performance elsewhere. The same can be said for Anthony Hopkins as he took a departure from his usual type of character to take on the scary Dr Lecter. With out doubt, Hopkins puts in one of his best performances as he manages to make Dr Lecter one of the scariest characters on screen I have seen in many years.
Also making appearances in less prominent roles are Scott Glen, Ted Levine and Anthony Heald who all put in great performances which rather than detract from the overall enjoyment of the film add to its overall pleasure.
* Direction
The Silence of the Lambs is directed by Jonathan Demme and again he thoroughly deserved the Oscar he won for best direction despite being up against the equally great Oliver Stone for "JFK". In a film which I feel is close on being perfect, it is hard for me to pick just one thing which I feel Demme did exceptionally well, and it would take to long to discuss every single thing which he did right in the film. If I had to pick one, it would have to be the manner in which he creates suspense throughout the movie, in some ways very similar to the style of Hitchcock. Just when you are being sucked into what is happening on screen, something unexpected happens which has you jumping in shock, tie this in to the fact that he never shows you the actual horror which is taking place, but uses sounds and lighting to fuel your own imagination to scare yourself, and you have a perfect movie packed with suspense.
DVD - Bonus Features and quality ****************************************
* Bonus Features
Inside the Labyrinth: The Making Of Silence Of The Lambs - This is a stunning feature which runs for just over an hour. Made in 2001 it is a retrospective look at how the film was made and is cram packed with all the regular "Making of" material, such as interviews with cast and crew, behind the scenes footage, details on location and costume design to name just a few. What is especially great about this feature is that it actually shows you things about the movie that you may never have realised and is definitely worth watching more than once to fully appreciate the work which went in to making the film.
Original Making Of - This is as the title says, the original making of feature and at less than 10 minutes long pails into insignificance compared to the new one. In some ways it feels a bit pointless putting this on as it doesn't really shed any further information on the film, but it is good way to see the effort they put in to the new features on the Special Edition release.
Deleted Scenes - There are 21 scenes and are roughly about a minute each, although they appear in an unedited format and at times are a bit rough. With 21 scenes it is no surprise that some of are a bit repetitive but a few really would have added to making the movie even better.
Bloopers - For such a serious movie it is quite a surprise that they have added a blooper real into the extras, but with only 5 bloopers they are quite amusing .
Theatrical and Teaser Trailers - Now I have never seen the point of adding the trailers for a film you have just watched onto a DVD, but they are there and there are two of them.
Audio-Only Track - Anthony Hopkins Phone Message - Someone decided to have some fun with the bonus features and this was one of them. This is a recording of a phone message you can leave on your answer machine and is quite a novel bonus feature.
Galleries - This is another feature which I always find a bit pointless, but needless to say there are several galleries contained within this feature with a range of behind the scenes and in front of the camera footage of crew and cast.
Booklet - Contained with the DVD case is an 8 page booklet which looks at the film and how it was made, but I much prefer the first feature to this.
* Picture Quality
It is no surprise that a lot of effort has gone into making the picture quality as perfect as possible and this is one of the sharpest transfers I have seen so far, but not only that, all the colours on the screen are powerful and solid. Even when the film moves into dark locations the quality of the image is exceptional.
* Sound Quality
This has to be my only disappointment with the DVD package. Although all the sounds are crystal clear and the dialogue is brilliantly balanced so that you never miss a thing, the use of surround sound has pretty much been ignored with most of the sounds and music coming from the front speakers..
Summary ***********
If you hadn't guessed already I am a total fan of The Silence of the Lambs, as in my opinion it is near on the perfect movie. It has a brilliant storyline which is held together brilliantly by some stunning performances and the characters are some of the most memorable in cinematic history. I have lost count of the number of times I have watched it, but each time it is as engrossing, suspenseful and enjoyable as the first. Demme's direction is brilliant and it was no surprise that Hopkins went on to reprise his role of Hannibal Lecter in the following two films Hannibal and Red Dragon.
The DVD package is not brilliant but the main behind the scenes feature is one of the best I have seen, jam packed with brilliant information. The other bonus features, with the exception of the deleted scenes, seem to be there as more of a novelty than that of being useful. It would have been nice if they had included an audio commentary for the film but sadly they didn't.
Price & Availability *************************
Amazon.co.uk: £24.99 Tesco.com: £6.97
Technical Details **********************
Certificate: 18 Duration: 115 mins Year of Release: 1991 Genre: Horror, Crime, Thriller
DVD Release: 2001 Subtitles: English, English for the Hearing Impaired, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, Portuguese, Polish, Greek, Hungarian, Hebrew, Turkish, Czech, Croatian Audio: English Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Director(s): Jonathan Demme Writer(s): Thomas Harris, Ted Tally
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Scott Glenn, Anthony Heald, Ted Levine, Frankie Faison, Kasi Lemmons, Paul Lazar, Dan Butler, Lawrence T. Wrentz, Don Brockett, Frank Seals Jr., Stuart Rudin
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: K.C. Bascombe - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jesse James, Rachel Skarsten, Charles Powell, Linda Purl, Kevin Zegars
Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Advantages: Anthony Hopkins is exceptional in his performance a truly thrilling film. Disadvantages: Is not in my opinion as explosive and intense as the 2001 follow up 'Hannibal'.
Advantages: Anthony Hopkins is exceptional in his performance a truly thrilling film. Disadvantages: Is not in my opinion as explosive and intense as the 2001 follow up 'Hannibal'.
Sep 7th, 2006
exceptional by (35%):
very helpful by (65%):
