The Silence of the Lambs - Essay Example

Film analysis: “The silence of the lambs” "The Silence of the Lambs" is a cult film of the twentieth century, which makes the viewer think about manythings such as life and values that we put in the first place. Surprisingly, this film is not about the legendary maniac and his bloody things to do, it is not even about how one evil genius crushed anothers authority. Along with all that this film "tells" that we do not need to live with memories about the past, as well as to build future on the mistakes of own childhood. We need to give vent to feelings and set them free. The plot of the film is being based on the contrast of maniac cannibal Dr. Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), who was a psychiatrist in the past, and a young girl Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster). It does not differ with originality - it has classic position - maniac and investigator along with a textbook ending - the final battle between them. She was hoping to get help from contained in the special conditions offender a clue to the psychology of the perpetrator (Ted Levine), who was not caught yet. Thus she tried to gain the trust of Lecter. She even doesnt suspect that the cunning and dangerous prisoner matured his own plan. A kind of game between them in order to fulfill their own goals is underway throughout the film, reaching its culmination in their final telephone conversation. The atmosphere of the movie itself as well as of the final scene is very awesome. It constantly keeps in suspense, though it seems that there is nothing particularly terrible. But it all fits in the overall storyline; its not some kind of cheap horror story, but a psychological thriller. I cannot name this movie as a scary one, but still it has some rather unpleasant moments. In ordinary thrillers you can predict when and where somebody will be killed. But in this movie you just do not know what to expect. The plot is also very interesting. The offender (Buffalo Bill) is not hidden from the very beginning, we know how he looks like, and we know what his name is. The very essence of the film is not to find out who is the culprit, but to show how that culprit was found with the help of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Thus, that is a bit unusual detective story. No "horror" in it is not present, only a psychological thriller and beauty shot. Scenario seems to be simple and stupid by many points, but that is that actually possible approach to the reality, and this rejoices. Special attention is given to camerawork, as the film required a lot of psychological attention to close-ups of the characters, and with this work the operator dialed brilliantly. Camera moves accurately and with exactly the same speed as the character moves. It doesnt draw us chaotic ambiance and movements of certain actor, but gets along well with everything what is happening on the screen. For example, we watch the heroine Foster - she comes up to the Hannibals camera, raises her eyes and then all the subsequent scene seems to be as if from the Agent Starling "eyes". The same I may say about the notorious close-up view of the mad Dr. Lecters sight. I always liked intelligent maniacs who succeed to imbue me with sympathy to their fate. The musical score was composed by Howard Shore. It is written in a way that goes right into the fabric of the movie and just fits in. Music in the film brilliantly complements and emphasizes every action, coming to the fore very rarely. You are not aware of the music while watching the film: instead, it pays your attention on the most crucial details. It gives you opportunity to get your feelings from all the elements simultaneously. And the picture itself is all in dark colors and thus it pumps unpleasant feeling. Initially, Dr. Lecter agrees to help Clarissa only if she will feed his sick imagination with details of her personal complicated life. Such ambiguous relations not only generate internal conflict in Clarissas soul, but also confront her face to face with a mad genius of the murderer. In the final scene we can see a continuation of the game in the Quid Pro Quo, which was not only a cure for boredom. Asking "Did the lambs stop screaming?" Dr. Lecter shows that he is interested in Starling and sincerely wants to help her but not to disclose the criminal investigation, but her potential. The scene ‘Having an Old Friend for Dinner’, which takes place at FBI Academy graduation party after solving after solving the Buffalo Bill case appears to be one of the most crucial for the film understanding. Clarice is congratulated for her bravery and outstanding job in solving the case. Suddenly the phone rang and somebody asked for Ms. Starling. It was Dr. Lecter, who decided to remember about himself in such a strange way. He makes Clarice to be sure, that he is not going to cause her any harm, as she makes his world be better, though he cannot say the same about his previous tormentor Dr. Frederick Chilton (Anthony Heald). While staring at him he says that he is “going to have his old friend for dinner”, and even though this phrase is a double-digit, it doesn’t make us doubt what he has in mind. We see Dr. Lecter in a completely different way than we had been accustomed to previously in the film. Instead of being a prisoner, behind cells, wearing mask and being approached as if he was a wild animal, he is wearing normal attire, almost blending in with the rest of the people around him. Unassuming appearance in this case is something like a distraction, as a means of lulling vigilance. He seems to be a part of the crowd, and the victim does not feel the trick, thus Dr. Lecter gets an opportunity to play with it, and then to lure it somewhere where no one would hear its screams. And no one will remember the hunters appearance, because he is well protected by mask of ordinary, unremarkable man, one of thousands of others. Thus we often not those who we seem to be at the first glance, but there are some that are not simply "other" - they are predators in sheeps clothing in the midst of an unsuspecting herd. This marks a new beginning for him, though it is still accompanied with old habits. Director of the film, Jonathan Demme, filled frightening culmination not only by latent, philosophical sense about the duality of human nature, difficulties of self-knowledge and the relativity of private efforts in the creation of good, but, moreover, by ironic, witty, typically postmodern overtones. In the beginning, when we see Clarissa jogging through the woods, she passes strange inscription - "suffering", "pain", "it". Probably that is the way how authors try to immerse the viewer into psychoanalysis. This is particularly obvious and pronounced in the final, the black humor of which, coupled with the extravagant resolution of the darkest suspicions is intended to facilitate too painful experience told. "Everyone has their own complex personal quirk, whether it is "silence of the lambs" or gastronomic inclinations". Each of us is crazy in proportion to own desires and delusions. It is not commensurate with the actions of other people and the fact that everything in this world is interconnected and interdependent. Speaking primitive, there would be no wolves without sheep and executioners without victims. The final scene shows that the "Silence of the Lambs" is definitely a film about love. Dialogues between Clarice Starling and Dr. Hannibal Lecter are a lot more interesting for me than anything else happening on the screen. There were just few short meetings and just one touch and a huge yawning chasm between these two people. "Clarissa, this world is much more beautiful when you are in it" - these are the words spoken to her by Dr. Lecter instead of goodbye are much more eloquent than "I love you". Anyway, he managed to eclipse Clarissas memories about her father and become the only man she thought about all subsequent years. There were no erotically scenes in the film, but a single episode with a touch was quite enough to show how much was just in one that touch. In the final scene it is also explained the motive of convergence between Clarice and Dr. Lecter, which is central in this story. It will even overshadow the main effective task to find a serial killer named "Buffalo Bill". The contact between "angelic" Clarice Starling and "insane" Dr. Lecter is not accidental, although it is amusing that they are helping each other to realize their obsessions. They represent good and evil - the two entities of one universe. Their relationship involves us into a journey to (sub) consciousness of the heroine, which seems to be much more interesting and intimidating pastime than just looking for murderer. It is nothing more but an attempt to explain in the language of Dr. Freud why butterfly tends to fire, Belle is drawn to the Beast, and Little Red Riding Hood - to the Gray Wolf. For sure this film aestheticizes evil, which finds here almost infernal-demonic expression. The boundaries between good and evil are extremely blurred here and, moreover, there is no obvious happy ending as retribution for sins. Lambs are childhood fears of Clarissa, which just cannot shut up, prompting her to repentance. Her path to success and victory over the murderer is overshadowed with these cries from the past. The film allows us to understand that the only way to be happy is to be frank with inner I. Do not be ashamed of own nature, desires and feelings. Sometimes even the most sweet and kind people have in mind dirty thoughts. But so far as only you and your psychiatrist know about your psychopathic mind everything is OK. The world comes in a total period of tolerance, but the interest in the behavior of maniacs, for example, is seen as something strange and under condemnation. Anything that exposes your flaws or qualities that you are ashamed, prevent you from being yourself. Let this film will be a litmus test of your own. Let it help you to learn about your fears. Fight with them, because the victory will allow you to make your lambs be in silence. Works Cited 1. Machor, James L.; Goldstein, Philip. Reception Study: From Literary Theory to Cultural Studies. Psychology Press, 2001 2. Thomson, Iain. "The Silence of the Lambs: Critiquing Culture from a Heideggerian Understanding of the Work of Art." Philpapers: Philosophical research online. http://philpapers.org/rec/THOTSO-3 3. Young, Elizabeth. "The Silence of the Lambs and the Flaying of Feminist Theory." Camera Obscura September 1991, 9.3: 4-35. Read More