95% Pure The Silence of the Lambs

            The film adaption of The Silence of the Lambs was a critical and box office success and is still regarded as one of the scariest films of all time. Upon its release in 1991, it went on to receive 5 academy awards for: Best Picture, Best Actress (Jodie Foster), Best Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Best Director (Jonathan Demme) and Best Adapted Screenplay. Therefore as a commercial and critical product it was very well regarded; however, does it stay true to the original spirit of the novel? I would contest that the movie does stick true to the “spirit of the novel” very well and is just about a transfer from written work into visual entertainment.

            After watching the film, and successfully sleeping through the next couple nights, I was surprised at my lack of anxiety or fear that came from watching the movie. In actual fact, I thought the book was scarier than the movie. While Hannibal Lecter’s character was expertly played by Anthony Hopkins, I felt that he still could have inspired a bit more blood-chilling terror like in the book. One thing that stood out for me was the lack of shots of his “maroon” eyes (which weren’t actually maroon in the film) and his six-fingered left hand. These were things that added to the creepy factor in the novel, and the fact that they weren’t given much precedence in the film did upset me a little, because I felt like they detracted from the character. Although, having said that, Hannibal’s bizarre face mask and his escape from the lower-security prison were very sinister and did justice to the novel by leaving me with the same pounding sense of dread and terror in my stomach that the book did. Therefore, Hannibal’s character was well portrayed and excellently performed, yet I still think that there was a little bit more that could have been done to seal his reputation and convey his full book persona, such as giving his abnormalities more precedence and screen time.

On the other hand, the villain, Jame Gumb a.k.a “Buffalo Bill” (Ted Levine), was also portrayed well. His violent, freaky, sex-confused, transsexual persona was well transferred from the novel to the silver screen; however, he didn’t inspire too much fear in me either. Other than the scene where he freaks out when Catherine doesn’t “put the lotion in the basket” and chases Clarice in his dark basement, he doesn’t really make me afraid of him. It’s difficult to explain why, but reading the book I was much more afraid of Buffalo Bill, possibly it was the style that Thomas Harris described him in the book, full of detail and powerful words, compared to the film which mainly portrays his actions and does little to actually describe the character. Perhaps the director and film crew meant for it to be like that, but I definitely was less scared watching the film than reading the book.

           Other than that, I felt that the psychology, behavioural science part of the film was well done in accordance with the novel. The dialogue was at times verbatim and the emotional inflections of Clarice and Lecter were as I would have expected having read the book. Although, I was slightly annoyed that they cut out some of the interaction between Lecter and Clarice, so that it is Clarice who solves the mystery, with less “help” than Lecter had given her in the book. I’m sure that is fine for those who haven’t read the book, but I feel that the whole mystery, puzzle, crime-solving part of the film could have been padded out a bit further. Otherwise, everything else, other than the plain differences which I shall not delve into, was pretty much in accordance with the spirit of the novel.
            In conclusion, I believe the film was a very accurate depiction of the “spirit of the novel”; however, I felt that it lacked in the creepiness aspects and I think that I would prefer to read the book over the film given a second chance. Although, I did have to give a coarse, half-laugh to Dr Lecter’s final line from the film, “I do wish we could chat longer, but I'm having an old friend for dinner.” which was both mildly humorous and thoroughly scary as it left the rest up to our imaginations.