The Silence of the Lambs

The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 American psychological horror thriller film directed by Jonathan Demme and written by Ted Tally, adapted from Thomas Harris's 1988 novel of the same name. It stars Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee who is hunting a serial killer named "Buffalo Bill" (Ted Levine), who skins his female victims. To catch him, she seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer. The film also features performances from Scott Glenn, Anthony Heald, and Kasi Lemmons. The Silence of the Lambs was released on February 14, 1991, and grossed $272.7 million worldwide on a $19 million budget, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of 1991 worldwide. It premiered at the 41st Berlin International Film Festival, where it competed for the Golden Bear, while Demme received the Silver Bear for Best Director. It became the third and most recent film (the other two being 1934's It Happened One Night and 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) to win Academy Awards in all the major five categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was the first (and to date only) horror film to win Best Picture. The Silence of the Lambs is regularly cited by critics, film directors, and audiences as one of the greatest and most influential films. In 2018, Empire ranked it 48th on their list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. The American Film Institute ranked it the sixty-fifth greatest film in American cinema, as well as the fifth-greatest and most influential thriller film, while Starling and Lecter were ranked among the greatest film heroines and villains. The film is considered "culturally, historically, or aesthetically" significant by the U.S. Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2011. A sequel, Hannibal, was released in 2001, followed by two prequel films, Red Dragon (2002) and Hannibal Rising (2007).

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A copy of the Buffalo Bill case file.

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A copy of the senator's offer.

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This offer is non-negotiable and final.

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If Catherine Martin dies, you get nothing. "Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center." Sounds charming.

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That's only part of the island. There's a very, very nice beach. -Terns nest there. There's beautiful... -Terns? If I help you, Clarice, it will be "turns" with us, too. Quid pro quo. I tell you things, you tell me things. Not about this case, though. About yourself. Quid pro quo. Yes or no? Yes or no, Clarice? Poor little Catherine is waiting. Go, Doctor.

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What is your worst memory of childhood?

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The death of my father.

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Tell me about it. And don't lie, or I'll know.

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He was a town marshal, and one night he surprised two burglars coming out of the back of a drugstore.

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They shot him.

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Was he killed outright?

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No. He was very strong. He lasted more than a month.

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My mother died when I was very young, so my father had become the whole world to me, and when he left me, I had nothing. I was ten years old.

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You're very frank, Clarice. I think it would be quite something to know you in private life.

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Quid pro quo, Doctor.

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So tell me about Miss West Virginia. Was she a large girl? Yes. -Big through the hips? Roomy? -They all were.

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What else? She had an object deliberately inserted into her throat. Now, that hasn't been made public yet. We don't know what it means. Was it a butterfly?

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Yes. A moth.

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Just like the one we found in Benjamin Raspail's head an hour ago.

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Why does he place them there, Doctor?

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