Review of The Silence of the Lambs (1991) by Nikhil U — 19 Nov 2013

#8.

Horrific and masterful. The Silence Of The Lambs is an edge-of-the-seat psychological thriller. Clarice Starling (Foster),an FBI trainee pursuing a serial killer, nicknamed 'Buffalo Bill' , is assisted by a brilliant psychiatrist turned psychopath, Dr. Hannibal Lecter(Hopkins) in the manhunt. Jonathan Demme pulls it off suspense lingering throughout and showing the disturbing madness quite skillfully.

Ted Tally does not provide 'Bufallo Bill' with quite the amount of back story in the screen adaptation. Nevertheless, the overall narrative approach was wonderful.

Anthony Hopkins , with a screen time of a little less than 17 minutes, worked wonders with his acting performance. Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter is cannibalistic, psychotic, manipulative and above all this, gentle in his approach. Lecter is Evil presented in a decent manner. With such character traits, Hopkins's performance was astounding. The subtle nuances in his devilish expressions, the gentle touch of evil in his face, Hopkins sure gives you the goosebumps.

Jodie Foster excels. With fearlessness in her face, the expressions tinted with a hypnotic touch during the visits of her past memories, and her skillful deductions, Foster's character is powerful and so was her performance.

The main splendor of the movie is ofcourse the interrogation scenes between Lecter and Starling. Eerie and slow moving. As, Lecter digs deeper into Starling's thoughts, she let's him, but without getting weak, she endures it.

The character of Lecter is used in the most finest fashion ever. Bravado.

The acting performances were marvelous ofcourse.

A perfect suspense story. Horrifically captivating.