Lambs Screaming (The Silence Of The Lambs)

My favourite scene from the movie "The Silence of the Lambs", directed by Jonathan Demme.
Clarice tells Lecter why she left the range where she lived when she was a child. The chemistry between Hopkins and Foster in this scene is incredible. A masterpiece.


Hannibal Lecter: [shouts] No!
[normal voice]
Hannibal Lecter: I will listen now. After your father's murder, you were orphaned. You were ten years old. You went to live with cousins on a sheep and horse ranch in Montana. And...?
Clarice Starling: [tears begin forming in her eyes] And one morning, I just ran away.
Hannibal Lecter: No "just", Clarice. What set you off? You started at what time?
Clarice Starling: Early, still dark.
Hannibal Lecter: Then something woke you, didn't it? Was it a dream? What was it?
Clarice Starling: I heard a strange noise.
Hannibal Lecter: What was it?
Clarice Starling: It was... screaming. Some kind of screaming, like a child's voice.
Hannibal Lecter: What did you do?
Clarice Starling: I went downstairs, outside. I crept up into the barn. I was so scared to look inside, but I had to.
Hannibal Lecter: And what did you see, Clarice? What did you see?
Clarice Starling: Lambs. The lambs were screaming.
Hannibal Lecter: They were slaughtering the spring lambs?
Clarice Starling: And they were screaming.
Hannibal Lecter: And you ran away?
Clarice Starling: No. First I tried to free them. I... I opened the gate to their pen, but they wouldn't run. They just stood there, confused. They wouldn't run.
Hannibal Lecter: But you could and you did, didn't you?
Clarice Starling: Yes. I took one lamb, and I ran away as fast as I could.
Hannibal Lecter: Where were you going, Clarice?
Clarice Starling: I don't know. I didn't have any food, any water and it was very cold, very cold. I thought, I thought if I could save just one, but... he was so heavy. So heavy. I didn't get more than a few miles when the sheriff's car picked me up. The rancher was so angry he sent me to live at the Lutheran orphanage in Bozeman. I never saw the ranch again.
Hannibal Lecter: What became of your lamb, Clarice?
Clarice Starling: They killed him.

Hannibal Lecter: You still wake up sometimes, don't you? You wake up in the dark and hear the screaming of the lambs.
Clarice Starling: Yes.
Hannibal Lecter: And you think if you save poor Catherine, you could make them stop, don't you? You think if Catherine lives, you won't wake up in the dark ever again to that awful screaming of the lambs.
Clarice Starling: I don't know. I don't know.
Hannibal Lecter: Thank you, Clarice. Thank you.
Clarice Starling: Tell me his name, Doctor.
Hannibal Lecter: Dr. Chilton, I presume. I think you know each other.
Dr. Frederick Chilton: Okay. Let's go.
Clarice Starling: It's your turn, Doctor.
Dr. Frederick Chilton: Out!
Clarice Starling: Tell me his name!
Boyle: I'm sorry, ma'am. We've got orders. We have to put you on a plane. Come on, now.
[Chilton and the guards start leading Clarice out]
Hannibal Lecter: Brave Clarice. You will let me know when those lambs stop screaming, won't you?
Clarice Starling: Tell me his name, Doctor!
Hannibal Lecter: Clarice, your case file. Goodbye, Clarice.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• The
• Silence
• Of
• Lambs
• Jodie
• Foster
• Anthony
• Hopkins

[codybrig]

"NO! I will listen... now."

[riverlioness]

I love his eloquence. Ah, if only, Hannibal didn't perceive conscience as a weakness he'd make a marvelous dinner party guest. Would his consuming the guest list be considered a liability? I suppose it depends on the amount of burdensome hearsay.

[Cass3836]

@4EverAndAlwaysPiano I agree with you, I think it is literal, but the silent thing - I always thought the 'silence' of the lambs was the silence after she made them stop screaming (as in when she stopped hearing them in the night etc). Is it supposed to refer to after they'd been killed? Now I'm doubting myself. Everything's tumbling, my world is falling apart, my mind confused!!...ok, slight exaggeration, but still :P

[gravyhouse]

I wonder if the "lambs" in this story represent innocence. Just a thought.

Both the book and the movie are masterpieces. Purely brilliant works of art

[tidalwavedave305]

@4EverAndAlwaysPiano Well, yeah, that is what she says in this scene, but I'm looking at the subtext. There is a such thing as repression, in psychology, and a such thing as conceit in literature.

[4EverAndAlwaysPiano]

@tidalwavedave305 no, she meant lambs... when she was little she used to live on a farm and at night she heard the lambs screaming because they were being slaughtered, and then after it would be uncomfortably silent.

[tidalwavedave305]

I don't think she means literally lambs. Lambs are equated with innocence ... I think she either saw a child being molested, or she was molested.

[majesticmaniac]

I dont know why this movie is called a horror movie...i never found it frightening...But I always found it exciting, and boy exciting it was....it a masterpiece of a thriller alright...I think I was more frightened by Se7en then this...either way, two of my all time favourite movies

[guitarist8688]

That stare is so intense. It actually makes it difficult for me to keep looking at his eyes

[punschpralinen]

Hahah... they have to PULL her away belligerently in order to get her away from his cell. :P

[Chemnerdy]

I'm using this book/movie for English class. Half the kids are afraid of me now.

[twojeeze]

One of the best scenes in the history of moviemaking. No other actor could have played this part better than Hopkins. NOBODY!!