The Silence Of The Lambs (1991) Orion Pictures 📢 Director: Jonathan Demme 💰 Producer: Kenneth Utt, Edward Saxon, Ron Bozman 👫 Cast: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine. 🏆 Awards ceremony: -64th Academy Awards: March 30, 1992. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, California. 🎭 Other films nominated for Best Picture this year: -Beauty And The Beast. -Bugsy. -JFK. -The Prince Of Tides. 📕 Plot summary: Trainee FBI agent Clarice Starling (JODIE FOSTER) is given the assignment to enlist the help of prisoner/criminal psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter (ANTHONY HOPKINS) over an unsolved murder case involving a killer by the name of Buffalo Bill after a senator's daughter is kidnapped by him. 💥 Standout scene(s): It's the scene where Lecter is in his jail cell and he asks Clarice to tell him about her childhood. Hearing the dialogue is fantastic but listening to the added sound affect of the subtle howling wind in the background adds an ambience to the whole scene that makes it so tangible. 🔑 Facts: -The 64th Academy Awards. -Nominated for 7 Academy Awards, it won 5: Best Picture, Director, Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Actress (Jodie Foster), Screenplay (adapted). 🙂 Personal opinion: Anthony Hopkins is charming, unnerving and absolute GOLD in this psychological thriller and delivers one of cinema's most memorable performances of one of its most memorable characters as Dr. Hannibal Lecter. He doesn't put a foot wrong and every single line of dialogue he delivers with purpose and the utmost perfection. He shares some incredibly delicious back-and-forth moments with Jodie Foster, both in the cell block and later on when he is in his jail cage. Clarice Starling: "Most serial killers keep some sort of trophies from their victims." Hannibal Lecter: "I didn't." Clarice Starling: "No. No, you ate yours." The cellblock set is great and the music really adds to the atmosphere too. There is the brilliant edit/reveal when the FBI agents think they have found Lecter on top of the elevator and we cut to him peeling off his face in the back of the ambulance. Truly a masterpiece in film-making. Brilliant directing with all the actors breaking the fourth wall in almost every scene (it gets a bit obvious after a while). There is something towards the end of the movie I am still not completely sure about: the scene where Jodie Foster pulls her gun out on the killer when she enters his house - she fumbles for her gun. Was this scripted or a genuine mistake? This is followed by what I think is the only scene in the entire movie which slows everything down a bit too much. As Clarice stalks the killer in the house it seems that we have to endure it with her because there are no cutaway shots and it does go on for a bit too long and loses a bit of continuity with regards to the flow of the film up until that point. But that is my only criticism of an otherwise perfect film. Last, but not least, let's not forget about that wonderful last line too! Did it deserve the Oscar? ✅YES. 9/10

Review date: 20 April 2025