FAQ

Indeed, it would seem that the thick glass at the front of Lecter's cell would fully protect his visitors, however there's a more hidden meaning to the warning: Lecter can still strike at people from behind the glass, frightening them and causing them to recoil in shock. Such an action from the doctor could serve his need to control people, even from behind the glass. It could also cause them to experience mild PTSD: imagine a man as scary and notorious as Lecter trying to attack you. It would be an experience that could haunt you and perhaps one that would linger for a long time in your head. We see Clarice break that rule in her first meeting with Lecter when he calls her back after Miggs flings his semen at her; she walks right up to the glass. Also, inmates can be extremely inventive. They can create projectile weapons out of items found in their cells. With someone as brilliant as Lecter, he could likely fashion weapons out of most anything, with the holes in the glass being open enough to perform this type of attack against visitors, hence the extreme precautions.

In the novel, Lecter's cell is designed differently; instead of a glass wall, the front consists of thick bars. Behind the bars, at a distance of several feet, was a nylon net covering the entire front of the cell.

It is implied several times throughout the movie that Lecter prioritizes attacking those who he believes have wronged him or showed discontent with him, no matter how small these misdemeanors may have been. Using this analysis, in the Silence of the Lambs, it is clear that Lecter perhaps only attacked those he did for a very good reason, no matter how twisted his methods and that provided justification in his mind.

This behavior is in stark contrast to the behavior of Miggs, who shows initial hostility against Clarice for no apparent reason, and simply treats her as an object to be humiliated and desecrated at will. Lecter takes the time to actually get to know Clarice, analyzing her behaviors and limits, to determine how he should treat her in the future. He does not show hatred to her outright at all, especially when he is introduced to her. Lecter recognizes her as smart, very intuitive, respectful of him despite his evil nature, at least over the time they speak and having the potential to be a very talented FBI agent.

Therefore, however evil Lecter may be as a serial killer and a cannibal, it is common knowledge that he shows explicit manners towards all first-time strangers. Many criminals take advantage of those who are nice and courteous, seeing these virtues as weakness, while Lecter viewed them as red flags that would be rude to eat as human meals. This shows a very high-class set of behavioral standards on Lecter's behalf, and it additionally gives input into how high-functioning he is for an individual detained in a mental asylum. He is vastly different to the rest of his fellow inmates, despite being just as dangerous as they are. This is likely a deliberate technique employed first by Thomas Harris, the author of the novel, and Jonathan Demme and his screenwriters: Clarice passes at least two men whose respective natures are horrific. After seeing them and seeing Lecter standing almost at attention and acting, at least at first, politely, it's meant to throw the audience off a bit before finding out exactly how diabolical Lecter really is.

Naturally, it would be impossible to anticipate what Lecter would have truly done had he been bodily freed around individuals he "respected" like Clarice and his orderly Barney, but this gives the suspension of disbelief about a false sense of morality, even though he has no conscience.

Lecter viewed his own acts as just and fair: he viewed Miggs' despicable behavior as hedonistic and serving no particular purpose. Although this sort of conclusion may be biased towards his own perspective, we must note that Lecter is the only one who treats Clarice in any remotely human way on his prison block. This does not mean Lecter is a moral role model in any way, of course, he is still the very evil criminal he is - but his actions show a sense of refined control and very twisted reason, but reason nonetheless, compared to his neighboring prisoner's impulsive and inconsiderate ways, which he considered spiteful and cringe-worthy. Miggs had done so to Clarice for no particular reason other than to show extreme antagonism towards her, and this sets Lecter off because his intellectual capacity could not come to terms with such a primitive way of behaving.

When Catherine Martin (Brooke Smith), the daughter of Tennessee Senator Ruth Martin (Diane Baker), is kidnapped by a serial killer known only as Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), F.B.I. agent-in-training Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is called upon to interact with psychopathic, cannibalistic killer psychiatrist Doctor Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) who may have insights into the identity of Buffalo Bill.

The movie is based on The Silence of the Lambs, a 1988 novel by American writer Thomas Harris. The novel was adapted for the movie by American screenwriter Ted Tally. The Silence of the Lambs won the 1992 Academy Award for Best Motion Picture. There have since been two movie sequels, Hannibal (2001) and Hannibal Rising (2007) and one prequel Red Dragon (2002), also based on novels by Thomas Harris. Prior to The Silence of the Lambs, there was another Hannibal Lecter movie, Manhunter (1986), which was based on Harris' 1981 novel, Red Dragon.

Clarice tells Lecter how she was orphaned at 10 years of age and sent to live on a sheep and horse ranch in Montana. One night she awoke to a terrible screaming and discovered the rancher was slaughtering the spring lambs. She grabbed a lamb and tried to rescue it. When she was found the next day, the rancher sent her away to live in an orphanage. The experience had a traumatic psychological effect on Clarice that haunts her for life. Lecter concludes that Clarice's fervent desire to save Catherine Martin will ultimately help her to silence the sound of the lambs screaming in her mind.

A picture of one of Buffalo Bill's victims has the year 1989 on it, so it must be either 1989 or the beginning of 1990. This is also implied when Chilton mentions the date of Hannibal's attack on a nurse (July 8th, 1981), and his remark that Hannibal has not seen a woman in 8 years. This presumes that the nurse was indeed the last woman Hannibal came into contact with, which is a reasonable assumption, given that Hannibal was locked up in a dungeon with only male orderlies. Harris' novel was published in 1988, so we're not very far off the timeline.

Roden (Dan Butler) and Dr Pilcher (Paul Lazar) identify the one taken from the victim's throat as a Death's-Head moth (Acherontia styx), a species found only in Asia. In reality, the cocoon was made from Tootsie-Rolls and gummy bears, in case the actress swallowed it.

The song is "Goodbye Horses" by Q. Lazzarus.

The infamous line where Lecter tells Starling that he ate a census taker's liver with fava beans and a "nice Chianti" has a few meanings: On the one hand, it's a grotesque display of power. By mentioning that he did something like this to Starling, he's reminding her of what he is and, more so, of what he's capable of and how he regards selected people or people in general. On the other hand, apart from containing alcohol, a Chianti is likely to be rich in tyramine—especially the more so when aged, whereas fava beans also contain a considerable amount of tyramine. Liver that is usually eaten from animals can also be high in tyramine. For obvious reasons, less is known about how a human liver differs in its constituents from that of an animal in regards to diet, potential poisoning and specific interactions. This may either be mere coincidence, simply reflect Hannibal's cannibalistic taste, or could possibly be an attempt to confuse, mock or provoke students of psychiatry or the psychology of criminalistic behavior, such as Clarice. Anything beyond that is speculative and elusive to investigations, as is probably intended, considering the context and the manner in which the statement was made as well as the nature of the individual from which it came.

Contrary to how the movie portrayed it, the building he escapes from is Pittsburgh's Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum, not a Memphis courthouse.

In the novel Red Dragon, Will Graham calls Lecter a "pure sociopath," but makes a point in mentioning that he only calls him this because a more appropriate term doesn't exist, meaning Lecter doesn't actually fit any psychological profile. This is echoed in the film version of The Silence of the Lambs, where Dr. Chilton refers to Lecter as a "pure psychopath," but given Chilton's incompetence, it makes sense that he would term Lecter's pathology so simply. Another reference to Graham's description in Red Dragon is made when Clarice tells a young security guard in the Tennessee asylum that "they don't have a name" for what Lecter is. According to the film's director, Jonathan Demme, Lecter is a good man trapped in an insane mind. Anthony Hopkins plays him as a refined, eloquent and seductive character who is very careful and cunning in his crimes. This is more in line with a sociopathic pathology, as sociopaths are known to be more organized in their actions. If you consider the prequel novel Hannibal Rising to be canon (which many fans of the Lecter mythology don't), it is suggested that Hannibal's pathology is a result of irreparable trauma he suffered as a child; however, others contest this simple summary of the novel, and maintain that Lecter's childhood trauma is merely one, if not the main event that causes his already sociopathic tendencies to manifest themselves at a young age; this is suggested by Hannibal continuing to murder people, even after dealing with the people responsible for the trauma. In other words, Lecter would have become a serial killer anyway, but events from his childhood simply accelerated the process and provided him with a special focus. Some viewers even maintain that Lecter isn't actually insane at all but does horrific things simply because he wants to and is smart enough to get away with them. They maintain that the people in the novels and films refer to Lecter as insane simply because it's easier to term him as such; it gives them a false sense of security and makes them feel that they know how Lecter's mind works when they actually have no idea. Simply put, it's possible that Lecter is a sociopath or a psychopath but, considering Graham's description, it's much more likely that Lecter is just pure evil.

Over the years that Hannibal is incarcerated, Barney develops respect for Lecter's ingenuity and intelligence, not to mention, respects how dangerous Lecter is. Lecter develops respect for Barney's courteous and kind manner, and in the sequel, Barney points out that he never felt in danger after Lecter's jailbreak, as Lecter preferred to eat "the rude". In the novel, Lecter and Barney have a short exchange before Lecter is transferred: Lecter thanks Barney for being decent to him, and Barney accepts and wishes him well.

It's adapted from the sequel to Manhunter (1986)'s source material: novels, on both counts. There are two schools of thought on this nevertheless. One could certainly argue that The Silence of the Lambs is a sequel to Manhunter, since it features three of the same characters from Manhunter, that is, Hannibal Lecter, Jack Crawford, and Dr. Frederick Chilton (played respectively by Brian Cox, Dennis Farina, and Benjamin Hendrickson in Manhunter and Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, and Anthony Heald in The Silence of the Lambs). On the other hand, Manhunter was not a successful film, which is why Dino De Laurentiis chose not to produce this film. When The Silence of the Lambs was released, it was not marketed as a sequel to Manhunter. All references from the book that mention Will "the Red Dragon" Graham have been excised from the film. The two returning cast members, Frankie Faison and Dan Butler, play different roles. It's also worth noting that in early drafts, when the producers were not sure if they could use the characters from Manhunter, Ted Tally changed those characters' names to cut all ties with Manhunter. They were eventually changed back. However, given that Tally also wrote the screenplay for Red Dragon (2002), which featured three out of four actors returning to their roles, including Faison playing his Silence role, it is more likely that Manhunter is meant to be part of a separate continuity, while Red Dragon is meant to be a direct prequel to The Silence of the Lambs.

There are some differences between the workprint version and the theatrical release. The workprint is more or less a final cut of the movie. Beside many minor changes, here and there are some scenes, which were removed in the theatrical version. The image quality of the workprint is especially in dark scenes pretty bad. The workprint has an alternate soundtrack. In some parts, there is no or different music and in other parts the same music compared to the theatrical version. For example, at the beginning when Starling runs through the woods, the workprint features a different dark/haunting music with a musical box motive. Furthermore all the credits and the location names are missing in the workprint.