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Hannibal’s escape in Silence of the Lambs *still* unsettles the crap out of me
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You know what made Hannibal Lecter so utterly spectacular for me as both a character, and as a performance from Hopkins? It was actually the moments when he showed his humanity. Yes that’s right, humanity. There is one particular shot, when Clarice and Dr Lecter are playing “quid pro quo” at his cell. He turned away every time he wanted Clarice to divulge more about her childhood trauma, in return for information on Buffalo Bill. When Clarice relented and described the death of her father when she was just a girl, Lecter, while turned away from her, displayed an expression of pure anguish and empathy. He felt her pain.
Look, all the moments of ingenious depravity and the aura of evil are what made Hannibal Lecter (and Hopkins) so utterly spectacular, and that’s how it should be. But what always stuck with me most was seeing the pain in Lecter’s face when Clarice truly “confided” in him the first time. That juxtaposition of humanity and monstrous depravity was what made Lecter the most complex and brilliant depiction of a monster.
"Thank you, Clarice.... thank you....."
"Brave Clarice.... you WILL tell me when those lambs stop screaming...?"
“They don’t have a name for what he is.”