Silence of the Lamb
1991, Silence of the Lamb begins with a young female FBI agent, Clarice Starling who is chosen by her superior Jack Crawford to help find the serial killer, Buffalo Bill. She is sent to speak with another serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lector, who was imprisoned for killing and eating his victims. Hannibal Lector is smart yet deranged, but it was to be believed that he knew who Buffalo Bill, the serial killer who is skinning woman. She herself is a lure by being a woman and a novice Hannibal takes the “bait” and starts giving her hints that will lead her to the other serial killer. But with every hint he gives she must give him information about herself and past traumas. Hannibal gives her a clue that leads her to a storage unit where she finds a preserved head in a jar. During these events Buffalo Bill has kidnapped, killed, and skinned a new victim. Agent Starling along with her boss Mr. Crawford they go to see body of the latest victim. In this scene the agents walk in the room full of male police, Crawford asks to speak with the Chief of police separately and hinted because of Agent Starling who is a woman. In the next visit Clarice Starling lies to Dr. Hannibal about his transfer to a new facility, unknowing Hannibal shares more information. It is then brought to light by Hannibal’s psychiatrist that it was a lie but makes his own plan of transfer of Hannibal. Once transferred Hannibal eventually makes his escape and even with this knowledge Agent Starling believes that he would not go after her. While investigating Buffalo Bill, Starling is trying to use the hints Dr. Hannibal has given her which gives her a lead. Meanwhile Jack Crawford believes he is on his way to arrest the killer, we soon realize that the skinning of the woman is to make a body suit out of the actual women’s bodies. Following the lead, Starling unknowingly ends up in the house of Buffalo Bill. In the end she is able to kill him to stop his attack and she is graduated to official FBI. The ending scene is of Hannibal calling Agent Sterling letting her know the world is better with her, but she doesn’t have the same sentiment back. Hannibal is watching his old psychiatrist get off a plane and tells Starling he’s having a fiend for dinner, in other words he most likely going to kill again.
The film is full of muted colors and dark shadows. Even with the camera setting the characters themselves are often wearing muted or neutral colors. There are a couple scene where there is a nice color contrast such as when Agent Starling entered the elevator where she is surrounded by men in red and she’s in gray making her the focus. The next was the death of Buffalo Bill where one can see the contrast of his skin and the blood splatter on his face. Throughout the entire movie there are only a few scenes where there is contrasting lighting too. The best examples of this is the scene where the show Buffalo Bills home where he keeps his bugs the only lighting was from a small lamp and a green lighting from one of the bug enclosures. This lighting adds drama and suspense to the scene. The only time where the lighting was high and clear was after the death of Buffalo Bill.
There was a heavy emphasis on gender throughout the whole film. Buffalo Bill was a character who some considered transgender hence his reasoning for making a human suit of woman. They especially focused on Starling by using camera scenes to show her compared to men near her. There were multiple scenes in which she is surrounded and stared at by her male peers. Even her boss pointed out that fact she was a woman and had her be excluded in conversations. It was because she was a woman that she was able to interact with Dr. Hannibal.
Thesis: murder, psychology, gender, dysmorphia, suspense
Thesis statement:
Young fledgling FBI agent must work with a dangerous cannibalistic serial killer in order to catch another serial killer who skins woman.
