The Silence of the Lambs at 30: Watched Woman - 30th Anniversary Video | Movie Birthdays 

Thank you so much, I’m glad you enjoyed the video.

You owe me nothing. 👍

Have watched several of your analyses and they are insightful and well worth watching. Just wondering if you caught lonely stick of dynamite's reference to red dragon when they said they "owed you awe"?

@@chipbryant9477 thanks, I only got the reference after I commented. Shame on me 😔I’ll be doing a video on Manhunter soon, so stay tuned. Hopefully I’ll do it justice. Thanks again for your comment.

I’ve had the book for years but never finished it. There is an element of horror in the movie, especially with Buffalo Bill and the sense that can abduct you in the night. Manhunter has that similar threat, at least you had your gun 👍

Thanks for the sub, really appreciate your support and kind words. You’re absolutely right, it’s the characters that elevate this movie beyond the usual thrillers and their nuanced portrayal is what has made them iconic.

@@MovieBirthdays Absolutely! It's always so great to find other film video essay channels and your content is wonderful! Looking so forward to checking out more of it! :)

@@CineStructure thanks a lot. I’ll be sure to check out some of your videos too.

@@MovieBirthdays Awww thanks! We really appreciate it and hope that you enjoy!!! :)

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video.

Read Hannibal. The movie is good. But the book definitely confirms that Starling never healthfully healed her Daddy Issues.... (The book was trashed because of the ending, so much they rewrote it for the film. But I find it hilarious it ends as a "cliched Electra Complex unsolved" by Sigmund Freud. It makes me think what Lecter would think if someone told him this?

I agree, he's always been the weakest link for me. His performance is helped by the solid world of the film and the great writing, he has his moments though.

I saw an interview with Hopkins and said he approached the role differently than most previous actors playing a psycho serial killer. He focused on the intelligent predator aspect, and he thought of a cat, always measuring, ready to pounce, instead of doing a wild-eyed, drooling maniac. A lot of the little mannerisms he did ad lib, like the little "ffffffa" he did at the end of the fava beans and Chianti line, he threw it in and Demme loved it and left it in the final cut. Cox adequate to me, but boring. Madds take was clever, but maybe a little too slick. But I understand your point.

Glad you enjoyed the video. Demme was a brilliantly versatile director with an amazing body of work. You’re absolutely right about the movies influenced by Silence of the Lambs, none of them quite hit the mark except something like Seven. It’s a genre I love and would welcome more movies like this, it’s a tough act to follow. As Silence is so rich in characterisation that it goes beyond its procedural plot and feels way more rewarding.

@@MovieBirthdays forget to mention seven. TSOTL only contemporary worthy of it. Like Demmes masterpiece Fincher is another class movie maker. He has a much more dark taste in material unlike Demme and his eclectic mix of movies. Stop making sense a superb live concert and film.

Great comment, this movie is just so rich with quality and creativity that one video can’t really do it justice. A rich, well written script with great characters and tight plot but at the same time so much under it’s beautifully designed surface. Glad you enjoyed the video and as mentioned in another comment I’ve got the other Lector movie “Manhunter” in the pipeline too which is as great as Silence. Also, loved your breakdown of the transformation of the actors, especially for Scott Glenn, who is brilliant in everything he’s in.

I love them both, hard to choose a favourite.

Great summary of the key themes, it underlines that perhaps Clarice is fighting a darker version of herself in her pursuit of Buffalo Bill. Thanks for the great comment.

Thanks for the comment. It’s definitely a complex relationship between Lecter and Clarice. There is admiration and respect their at the end, there’s also something almost abusive about the calls her one last time potentially haunting her forever. Sometimes I wonder if he just wanted to have her dinner😉

@@MovieBirthdays He must've respected Clarice before. Enough for him to coerce his cellmate to kill himself for throwing Semen at her after the meeting was over. Hannibal hates rudeness. If anyone mentored and tested Clarice every step of the way, it was Dr. Lecter. Even though Crawford gave her a shot while she was still a cadet. Almost every supporting character serves a purpose. Be it Buffalo Bills latest victim Catherine who actually makes an escape attempt before she's found. Or Jack Crawford who acts as a firm but fair mentor on an official capacity. Dr. Chilton is the most infamous of these since he's a detestable egomaniac who cares more about self aggrandisement than the rehabilitation or the human rights of the patients under his care. Chilton considered Hannibal his greatest trophy. The petty treatment of Clarice & Hannibal made it all the more satisfying when at the end of the he followed Chilton who just got off the plane, implying the he was Hannibal's next victim. The escape itself was something out of a horror movie. The dungeon scenes which had shades of red and later blue was perfect for the bleakness of its environment. The cinematography of Silence of the Lambs and other films of the 70's through to the early 90's had that home movie style grain and imperfection to them which you usually get from Super 8, 16mm & 35mm film. Today's cinematography is almost too perfect and too polished that even with a good story films set in differing time periods still look too modern to be believable.

@@Senate300 it’s a really constructed film and arguably one of the best written screenplays of all time. Nothing is wasted in the film, all the pieces come together to enhance the main character as you said. I miss the feel of the older movies too. As aesthetically clean and slick as modern movies are, I agree with you in that the style doesn’t fit every movie.

@@MovieBirthdays A few more things.. 1)Had Silence of the Lambs been made today, the debate surrounding the treatment of Jame " Buffalo Bill" Gumb's transexuality/gender dysphoria would end up being the main topic of conversation and fairgame for Transphobia allegations due to a subset of the films audiences & critics caring more about how more about how they're perceived collectively than the individual arrested development or mental instability of a fictional serial killer in spite of the film going to great lengths to highlight the latter and dispell the former. The art of yesteryear will always be judged by the mores, ethics, values of today rather than be appreciated as a product of its era. 2) Considering that Clarice Starling is presented as a young woman in a man's world to be coveted, preyed upon, picked apart, seduced or destroyed before coming out on top in spite of being a trainee FBI Agent with ambitions of working in the behavioural science department, it's no surprise that in todays discourse, she's lorded as a feminist icon next to Alien's Ellen Ripley and the Terminators Sarah Connor. Funnily enough, Ripley & Conor are more looked up to by male film fans while Clarice is more respected by the females. 3) Regarding the Hannibal Lecter Character, Anthony Hopkins who's Hannibal was a predatory force of nature became a mythic cinematic icon who stood the test of time while Brian Cox's stripped down primary psychopath of Manhunter & Mads Mikklesen Devil Incarnate of the Brian Fuller series each brought something different to the table but were relegated to cult status.

@@Senate300 Buffalo Bill would certainly be a controversial aspect that would perhaps be avoided in any new interpretation. I’ve not seen the TV series “Clarice” which was made this year and I wonder if there will be any aspect of that now. I think as a female heroes go there was something organic about Ripley, Sarah Connor and Clarice. No obvious pandering behind it just good storytelling, it seems like a complicated thing to pull off in modern films without it feeling tokenistic or crowbarred in. Regarding the Lectors, I like all three interpretations, in many ways Hopkins’ performance is the least nuanced, with more screen time perhaps Brian Cox would have achieved more recognition with his interpretation, with the little screen time he has Cox achieves maximum impact and menace. Thanks for your comment, I have one video coming just before the end of the year and plan to have a more productive year next year.

It’s a great movie, a well executed plot that takes time to develop the characters and explore a very rich subtext.