Movie Analysis: “The Silence of the Lambs” — Part 1: Scene By Scene Breakdown

Watch this critically acclaimed movie and analyze it all week.

Another in our series in which we analyze notable movies. Why? To quote the writing mantra I coined 9 years ago: Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. You will note which one comes first. Here are my reflections from that post about the importance of watching movies:

To be a good screenwriter, you need to have a broad exposure to the world of film. Every movie you see is a potential reference point for your writing, everything from story concepts you generate to characters you develop to scenes you construct. Moreover people who work in the movie business constantly reference existing movies when discussing stories you write; it’s a shorthand way of getting across what they mean or envision.

But most importantly, you need to watch movies in order to ‘get’ how movie stories work. If you immerse yourself in the world of film, it’s like a Gestalt experience where you begin to grasp intuitively scene composition, story structure, character functions, dialogue and subtext, transitions and pacing, and so on.

This week’s movie: The Silence of the Lambs, screenplay by Ted Tally, novel by Thomas Harris.

IMDb plot summary: A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.

Trivia: The Silence of the Lambs one of three movies to win the Big Five Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay.

Our schedule for discussion this week:

Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown
Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Dialogue
Saturday: Takeaways

The Silence of the Lambs
Movie Scene-by-Scene Breakdown
by Dave Karner
Gointothestory.blcklst.com

00:00:30–00:03:00 Woods near Quantico, VA — caption, credit sequence over Clarice Starling climbing a near vertical cliff via a yellow rope. She’s sweaty and focused on completing her exercise. She attacks a rope wall and conquers it quickly before she is halted by someone who tells her that Crawford is waiting for her in his office. She says “Yes, sir” and goes back the way she came, revealing that her trainer is with the FBI.

00:03:01–00:04:50 Clarice runs through recruits and makes her way into the FBI building, through a pistol class and into an elevator where she is dwarfed by her male counterparts. She is unfazed, though. Exiting the elevator alone now, she approaches Behavioral Science Services. It’s obvious that she is in a man’s world.

00:04:51–00:08:14 Clarice enters Crawford’s office, awaiting his arrival. She sees the notes, timeline and victim photos, and a magazine cut-out — “BILL SKINS FIFTH” — hinting at the case to come. Crawford arrives. He is charming, smiling, presenting her with an “interesting errand”. Clarice smiles as well, seemingly taking the acceptance. He goes through her CV telling the audience her credentials. She’s accomplished. Crawford also mentions that Clarice is hoping to be assigned to his own Behavioral Science Services department. We learn of a “grilling” she gave him when she was his student about a civil rights case at UVA. Crawford goes right into the assignment: to interview serial killers in custody. He then asks her if she spooks easily, to which she replies “not yet” with a smile. Crawford asks her to interview “the psychiatrist, Hannibal Lecter”. Clarice follows this up by saying “Hannibal the Cannibal” aloud, cueing us into this serial killer’s particular reputation. Crawford doesn’t expect Lecter to speak with her and tells her to just report on his condition and behaviors otherwise. Crawford gives her a dossier, questionnaire and badge with directions to report back by 0800 Wednesday. Then Clarice asks

Crawford why the rush and if there is a connection between Lecter and “Buffalo Bill”, the serial killer currently being hunted. Crawford says “I wish there were.” Crawford then warns Clarice to follow protocol and never give Lecter personal information in any case. He warns “You don’t want Hannibal Lecter crawling around inside your head” and tells her to always remember what he is. Clarice asks, “What’s that, sir?”

00:08:15–00:08:59 The question is answered by Chilton, the warden at the asylum, where we now find Clarice. Chilton calls Lecter “a monster” in this dialogue cut. Chilton is smarmy, calling her ‘pretty’ and asks if she’s spending the night and could use a guide. Clarice finds herself dealing with Chilton’s advances and innuendos. She lies to get out of the situation, telling Chilton her report is due that afternoon.

00:09:00–00:10:50 Chilton escorts Clarice through the building towards the secure section of the hospital. During the walk, Chilton suggests that the FBI director is using Clarice as a sexual toy to manipulate Lecter. She stands her own, telling Chilton that UVA “isn’t a charm school.” For effect, Chilton shows Clarice a photo of his last victim, a nurse who got too close. Tit for tat, Clarice asks to go in alone seeing that Lecter thinks Chilton is his nemesis, thinking she would do better. Chilton starts going sour, but Clarice uses the suggestion that “then I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of your company” to manipulate him right back. He allows her to enter alone with a half-smile at her nicely delivered pretense.

00:10:51–00:11:50 Clarice gets a good view of prisoner’s row and its day-to-day detail. She meets Barney, who reminds Clarice and us to stay away from the glass and that Lecter is in the last cell. Barney is a likable character who tells Clarice “You’ll do fine.”

00:11:51–00:12:21 Clarice makes the slow walk. One inmate whispers to her “I can smell your cunt.”

00:12:22–00:19:35 Clarice meets Lecter for the first time. Lecter wants to see her credentials. He asks her to come closer. He notes that her badge expires in one week. She admits she is a student. Lecter asks her to sit down. Lecter asks Clarice what Miggs said. She tells Lecter. He says he cannot smell her, but he then takes a deep breath and describes the skin cream she uses and the l’eau she wears, “but not today.” Lecter is smart and observant. Clarice in turn asks him about his drawings. He describes one and asks Clarice if she’s been to Florence. She asks him if he drew those pictures from memory. Lecter tells her “What I have is memory instead of a view.” Clarice attempts to go right into the questionnaire, but Lecter berates her for starting so well with showing and accepting courtesy, established trust and “now this ham-handed segue into your questionnaire, this will not do.” Clarice tells him he either will or he won’t. Lecter insinuates that Crawford must be very, very busy with “Buffalo Bill” to send him a member of the student body. Lecter asks Clarice why they call him “Buffalo Bill”. Clarice mentions that the moniker started in Kansas City Homicide and that they say he “skins their humps.” Lecter asks Clarice what she thinks, challenging her “acumen”. She tells Lecter she believes he likes to keep a trophy of his victims. Lecter tells her he didn’t. Clarice says “No, you ate yours.” After this comment, Lecter requests the questionnaire. She sends it through the sliding door. He smiles at her and winks, thumbing over the pages. Clarice smiles back. Lecter asks her if she thinks she can dissect him in such a simple way. Clarice denies it. Now, Lecter insults her by making quick work of her most likely history coming from West Virginia. She takes it, and turns it back on him by asking him to turn his observation inwards. Lecter sends it back and tells her about one of his victims and tells her “Fly on back to school, little Starling, fly, fly.” Rejected, Clarice walks back past Miggs, who tells her through the bars that he’s bit himself. “See the blood?” Instead of blood, he flicks a handful of semen into her hair, disgusting and shocking her. Lecter is appalled and calls her back. He tells Clarice “that shouldn’t have happened to you.” Clarice tells him, “Then do this questionnaire for me.” Lecter tells her, “No, but I’ll give you what you really want.” Clarice answers “What is that?” Lecter says “Advancement of course. Look up one of my old clients — M-O-F-E-T.” Lecter sends her off with that one little clue.

00:19:36–00:20:38 Outside the hospital, Clarice goes into a FLASHBACK of her, as a girl, greeting her daddy, just home from his shift as a town marshal. Back from the memory, Clarice finally breaks down and cries from this horrific experience.

00:20:39–00:21:06 Back in Training, Clarice raids a training room, but forgets to check behind the door. We see a firearm come into screen, pointed right at Clarice’s head. An instructor tells her “Starling, you’re dead. Did you check your corner? That’s why you’re dead.”

00:21:07–00:21:15 Starling and her friend, Ardelia, are jogging together, and the male recruits passing by gawk at them over their shoulders.

00:21:16–00:21:38 In the FBI stacks, Clarice does some investigation into Lecter and notes that Crawford may have made director by aiding in Lecter’s capture. Clarice’s friend finds her and tells her the “guru” is on the phone for her.

00:21:39–00:22:37 Phone conversation between Clarice and Crawford tells us Miggs is dead. Swallowed his own tongue after listening to Lecter talking to him for most of the day. Clarice tells Crawford she doesn’t know how to feel about it. He tells her not to feel about it at all, Lecter did it to amuse himself. He asks Clarice about Mofet. Clarice has a hunch about Your-Self Storage facility.

00:22:38–00:26:57 Your-Self Storage at night with the owner. The storage space rented to Mofet had been pre-paid for 10 years. Clarice is onto something. Time to force her way inside, which she does with a jack from her Pinto. Once inside Clarice finds all manner of strange items, but most of all, inside a 1930s Packard, she discovers a decapitated man’s head preserved in a glass jar of formaldehyde.

00:26:58–00:31:37 Clarice hurries back to the mental hospital where she sits with Lecter and describes how she found the head and the name of the patient is actually an anagram for “the rest of me”. Lecter gives her the completed questionnaire. Clarice wants to know to whom the head belongs. Lecter gives her the name Benjamin Raspail and claims he didn’t kill him. Clarice guesses that Raspail was a transvestite. Lecter asks how Clarice felt when she found him. She admits she was scared and then exhilarated. Lecter then presses Clarice about whether Crawford wants Clarice sexually. She claims she never thinks about it, then tells Lecter it’s something Miggs would say. She presses him about what he meant when he said “transformation”. Lecter tells her “good things come to those who wait.” She presses for the identity of the man who killed his patient. Lecter offers her a deal. He wants away from Chilton, a view of water and sky in exchange for him helping her by giving her a psychological profile of “Buffalo Bill” based on the case evidence file, which she will provide to Lecter. “I’ll help you catch him, Clarice.” Lecter tells her the clock is ticking. “Buffalo Bill” will strike again.

00:31:38–00:34:58 Memphis, TN — caption over Catherine driving the roads at night, returning to her house. A man is watching her through Night Vision Goggles. Arriving now, Catherine sees a man with a cast on his arm trying to load a couch into a van unsuccessfully. Feeling sorry for his predicament, Catherine offers to help him. He graciously accepts, getting her to get into the van on one end and pull the couch inside. Once the couch is inside, he jumps in and asks if she is a size 14. Then he clubs her unconscious with his cast, closes the doors and cuts the back of her dress with a pair of surgical scissors. Seeing the tag is indeed a 14, he runs his fingers over the skin of her back. “Very good.” he says. He’s found his next victim.

00:34:59–00:35:44 Back in training, Clarice is behind a punching mat holding her own against a male counterpart who is throwing punches, both wearing head guards and boxing gloves. Clarice is called out by her trainer and outside of the gym past a simulated FBI training vehicular arrest. Her trainer tells her to pack and get ready to bug out on assignment for Crawford. He tells her they found a woman’s body in a river in West Virginia and that it’s a “Buffalo Bill situation”.

00:35:45–00:36:53 Clay County, W VA — caption over a muddy looking river, as a jet carries Crawford and Clarice to their destination. Crawford lays out the situation. “Buffalo Bill” keeps each girl alive for three days, then kills them, skins them and dumps them in a river, always in a different river. Bimmell was the only one to be weighted down, so the first was the third found. He shows her where the last body was found on the map.

00:36:54–00:38:23 In the car, Crawford ask what Clarice sees. She states he’s white, owns a home because he needs privacy, 30s-40s, cautious and won’t stop. Crawford asks why. Clarice tells him he has a taste for it now. He’s getting better at his work. Crawford asks if she has questions. Clarice presses him on why he hasn’t mentioned what she found and Lecter’s offer to help find “Buffalo Bill”. Crawford says he’s considering it. Clarice presses again about why he didn’t let her in on the mission. Crawford tells her that if she had gone in there with an agenda, Lecter would have known immediately and “turned to stone.”

00:38:24–00:41:07 Morning now, at the funeral home. A deputy leads them to a back room where the sheriff and others are awaiting them. Crawford goes for the team appreciation angle but is shut down by the sheriff. Crawford asks to speak with the sheriff in private insinuating that he doesn’t want Clarice to overhear their conversation. The sheriff falls for this ploy leaving Clarice alone in the room with all the male deputies staring at her. She hears a hymn playing and looks into the next room with an open casket which triggers a FLASH BACK of her kissing the cheek of her dead father. She is shocked back to reality by Crawford.

00:41:08–00:42:05 BACK TO SCENE on Clarice. Crawford is working on connecting the machine that will transmit the fingerprint data to six different databases. The noise from the deputies is making things difficult. Clarice gets everyone’s attention and using her best WVA accent, tells the men that the girl’s family would appreciate all they’ve done for her, but now they needed to do some things, too, and asks them to leave. The disdain on the men’s faces is clear, but they heed her and depart, leaving only the mortician and the funeral director.

00:42:06–00:46:04 Vapor Rub under the nostrils of each remaining person in the room builds a visual of how bad the smell will be. They unzip the bag and Crawford tells Clarice to commence her evaluation. Clarice begins her examination and fingerprinting. Clarice begins her rundown: entrance wound, wrongful death, not local, ears pierced in three places, “looks town to me” is her judgement. Two nails are broken and there’s dirt underneath — she’s tried to claw her way through something. Clarice examines the instant photos of the victim’s mouth and notices that there is something in her throat. They extract an insect cocoon.

00:46:05–00:46:33 In the car, rolling across the landscape, Crawford asks if his asking to see the sheriff in the other room because she was a woman really “burned you up?” He tells her it was just a smoke screen and it didn’t matter. Clarice tells him that the men look to him as an example of how to act — it matters. Crawford registers this and says “Point taken” before falling asleep for the rest of the drive.

00:46:34–00:48:46 At the museum of natural history, Clarice brings her sample cocoon to two young scientists, one of them asks about her evening dining habits. She asks if he’s hitting on her, to which he replies “Yes.” The other scientist finds the identity of the insect just in time to save the other the rejection. A Death’s Head Moth.

00:48:47–00:49:42 FORM CUT to a live Death’s Head Moth FLUTTERING across a table with many strange items, then a moth incubator, then to a set of surgical knives set out ready for use, then onto a naked man sitting at a sewing machine, all the while we HEAR Catherine CALLING OUT from a deep pit while a white poodle BARKS down at her.

00:49:43–00:51:34 At the FBI training center where Clarice and her friend, Ardelia, happen upon a television newscast reporting on “Buffalo Bill’s” latest kidnapping victim: the only daughter of U.S. Senator Ruth Martin of Tennessee. This case is important and goes right up to the President of the United States. Senator Martin pleas with the kidnapper to see Catherine as a person. Clarice notes that the more Catherine’s name is used — she becomes more than an object — the harder it is for the kidnapper to hurt her.

00:51:35–00:52:11 Back at the hospital, Chilton angrily protests over Clarice’s unscheduled visit with Lecter. She gives him the U.S. Attorney General’s card and tells him to discuss it with him and let her do her job. Clarice moves onwards, leaving Chilton’s cognitive wheels turning. Thinking of a plan, he sets off to implement it with purpose.

00:52:12–00:57:16 In front of Lecter, Clarice lays out the bargain: If your information leads to the capture of “Buffalo Bill” and in time to save Catherine Martin, the senator promises a transfer to a VA hospital, maximum security, with a view of the woods, books, and one week a year, a trip to an island to walk the beach and swim in the ocean. “If Catherine Martin dies — you get nothing.”

Lecter wants Quid Pro Quo now. I tell you something you tell me something, something about yourself. She agrees. He asks her about her worst childhood memory. She tells him the death of her father. He wants more. She tells him about her father surprising two burglars who shot him, he lasted a month before he died. She tells him her mother died when she was small and that her father left her at age 10. Lecter tells her she’s quite frank. “It would be quite something to know you in private life.” “Quid Pro Quo, doctor.” replies Clarice. Lecter leads with a question: Tell me about Ms. West Virginia — was she a large girl? Big in the hips?” “Yes.” Clarice replies. She mentions the cocoon found in the throat, just like the one found in Raspail’s head just an hour earlier. She asks Lecter what it means. “It symbolizes change.” he explains. “Billy wants to change, too.” Clarice mentions that transsexuals are passive — it doesn’t fit. “Clever girl, you’re so close to the way you’re going to catch him, don’t you realize that?”

“No, tell my why?”

Lecter asks what happened to her after she was orphaned. Clarice tells him she moved to a cousin’s ranch. A sheep and horse ranch for only two months.

“Why, did the rancher make you perform fellatio? Did he sodomize you?”

“No, he was a very decent man.”

Billy isn’t a real transexual, although he tries to be. Lecter suggests that there are three medical centers that perform sexual reassignment surgery — don’t be surprised that he would have been rejected by all three.

00:57:17–00:57:44 The Warden’s Office — simultaneously — Chilton is listening in on their conversation using a bug. We also see his gold pen as he raises his fingers to push in the earpiece a little more snuggly.

00:57:45–00:59:28 In “Buffalo Bill’s” home, Bill is telling it to put lotion on its skin as its told. Catherine begs for her life in the pit, offering money and telling him she’s the daughter of an important person. He repeats his request or she gets the hose. She sees the broken fingernails and blood and begins to SCREAM. He copies her insanely.

00:59:29–01:00:49 Back at the hospital, Clarice is gone and Chilton is there, letting Lecter know that there is no deal with a beach and that the senator hasn’t even heard of a deal with Lecter. Chilton asks Barney to leave them alone together, which he hesitates to do. Alone now, Chilton lays out his deal: Identify “Buffalo Bill” by name and get a transfer. Lecter notices that Chilton has left his gold pen on the bed. Lecter gives Chilton “Buffalo Bill’s” first name and tells him he will only tell the senator the rest in person and that he has conditions of his own. Chilton bites and orders Barney to take him out of the cell.

01:00:50–01:01:09 Crawford gets a call from the FBI director telling him Lecter is being transferred and asking if he had a trainee offer a phony deal to Lecter. Crawford admits to it. The director tells Crawford the senator is putting Kremler from the Justice Department in charge of the case in Memphis.

01:01:10–01:04:47 Memphis International Airport — caption — as Lecter is unloaded from a plane in his strapped, rolling hand cart wearing a face muzzle to prevent him from biting anyone. He looks downright terrifying. Two cops, Boyle and Pembry, introduce themselves and offer fairness for fairness. Chilton goes to sign Lecter over, but can’t find his gold pen. Boyle offers his. Lecter is wheeled over to the senator and her people for a meeting. She offers him an affidavit securing his new rights. He refuses to waste anymore time and mentions that Clarice and Crawford has wasted enough time and hopes it hasn’t doomed Catherine. Lecter tells the senator that “Buffalo Bill’s” real name is Louis Friend, a former lover of Benjamin Raspail. Louis had murdered a transient and done things with his skin. The senator’s man presses for location and a description. Lecter then asks Ruth about nursing Catherine. She says she did. Lecter asked her if it toughens the nipples. The senator, disgusted, tells them to send Lecter back to Baltimore. Then Lecter yells out a basic description and location of Friend. Finally, he stops the senator one last time to compliment her on her suit.

01:04:48–01:13:44 Shelby County Courthouse — caption over a press conference held by Chilton. He’s telling the press his insight into Lecter led to the breakthrough to finding Louis Friend. Meanwhile, Lector is being held on the 3rd floor of the courthouse. Dodging Chilton in the hallway, Clarice convinces the deputies in charge of access to Lecter to let her in. She’s carrying a cardboard tube with her. They look at her suspiciously for a moment, but then allow her to check her weapon and log in for her visit. They ask her if she knows the rules. Boyle allows her approach. Lecter knows she’s there. She offers his drawings. Lecter asks if she’s there to wheedle him on Crawford’s order. Clarice tells him she wanted to . “They’ll say we’re in love. tsk, tsk.” he replies. Clarice tells him Louis Friend is an anagram for Iron Sulfide or Fool’s Gold. Clarice presses him for the truth. Lecter tells her everything is in the file. What is it’s nature? Lecter asks her what he does. Clarice says “He kills women.” “No. that’s incidental. What does he gain by killing?” “Anger, social acceptance, sexual frustration-“ “No! He covets. That is his nature. Do we seek out things to covet?” “We covet things we see every day.”

Now it’s Clarice’s turn. Quid Pro Quo. Lecter demands to know what happened to cause her to run away from the ranch. Clarice tells him about the screaming. She tells him about finding the barn full of lambs ready for the spring killing. She tried to free them, but they wouldn’t move. So she grabbed one lamb and ran away with it. Clarice thought if she could save just one, but it was so heavy. The sheriff picked her up a few miles away. The rancher was so mad he sent her off to the orphanage. They killed her lamb. Lecter asks “You still wake up sometimes to the screaming of the lambs, don’t you? You think if you can save Catherine, you can silence the screaming of the lambs?” Clarice says “I don’t know.” Lecter thanks her. Chilton arrives and demands Clarice leave. Clarice tries to get him to tell her his name as she’s whisked away, but Lecter tells her to get her case file. She runs back and grabs it from him, his finger gently touches hers in the transfer.

01:13:45–01:14:13. Clarice is at the airport leaving, carrying her one bag.

01:14:14–01:18:23 Boyle and Pembry bring Lecter a second dinner, lamb chops, extra rare. They call Lecter out; “Ready when you are, doc.” He asks for a moment. From his mouth, he ejects a small piece of gold metal, gleaned from Chilton’s gold pen, and palms it. The two wardens ask him to sit backwards against the bars of his metal cage so they can handcuff him. As soon as they do and move to bring in his second meal, he goes to work on the lock of his cuffs with the little metal piece, unnoticed. The two wardens open the door to the cell and walk inside, one with his plate of food. Boyle, seeing Lecter’s drawings cover the table along with a copy of Bon Apetit, places the food tray on the floor, then rolls up his drawings. Boyle reaches down for the plate of food sitting next to Lecter, who SLAPS one handcuff on Boyle and the other quickly to one of the bars. Boyle YELLS a warning, but is too late. Lecter SLAMS the gate on Pembry. Lecter bites Pembry, then sprays mace into his eyes. Once incapacitated, Lecter kills Boyle with a police baton. Pembry struggles across the floor, but grabs a pocket knife from Boyle. “Ready when you are, Sergeant Pembry” says Lecter.

01:18:24–01:19:11 Down in the CP on the main floor, Tate notices the elevator is rising to the 5th floor. They begin to react. Then SHOTS are heard. Tate assumes the shots were fired on the 5th floor and calls in for back-up. Then they notice the elevator has gone back to the 3rd floor. Tate calls for a 10-block seal, SWAT team and an ambulance.

01:19:12–01:21:10 The officers go up the stairs to the 3rd floor. Breaking in, they find Boyle grotesquely mounted high in the bars like an angel. Lecter is strong. They notice that Pembry is still breathing. Tate calls in that Lecter is missing and armed and to watch all the windows on the exterior of the building. Tate tells a young officer to hold Pembry’s hand and talk to him until the ambulance can arrive.

01:21:11–01:21:41 Outside the courthouse, the SWAT team arrives and they enter the building. The ambulance arrives and the gurney gets removed by two EMTs.

01:21:42–01:22:09 Jumping in time to the 3rd floor, Pembry is now strapped to the same gurney. He begins to convulse, prompting the EMTs to get a move on.

01:22:10–01:23:16 In the elevator now, Tate is announcing that Pembry is being moved out by the EMTs and that he’s holding on. But then, blood begins to drip from the access hatch above them. Tate notes this. Pembry is quickly carted away to the ambulance, while Tate and his team whisper that Lecter is on the roof of the elevator.

01:23:17–01:24:35 On the second floor, officers open the elevator doors and use a mirror to observe the hatch of the elevator. They see Lecter in his white prison uniform lying on the roof of the elevator. He’s not moving. They order a warning shot. Then they shoot him in the leg. There’s no movement. They decide to open the hatch. All eyes and guns are on the hatch as they bring in a short ladder to open it. Once they do, half the body falls through hanging there grotesquely.

01:24:36–01:25:01 In the ambulance, an EMT calls in an officer with severe lacerations to the face. By the time he’s almost finished with his report, Lecter, wearing Pembry’s uniform, pulls off Pembry’s face that he’d been wearing. The EMT is about to lose his life.

01:25:02–01:25:44 Clarice’s friend, Ardelia, drops the phone and sprints to find her. She reports they found the ambulance abandoned, the EMTs dead. Lecter killed a tourist as well, stealing their car, cash and clothing. Ardelia announces that Lecter could be anywhere. Clarice tells a doubting Ardelia that Lecter wouldn’t go after her because he would consider it rude. Clarice mourns that Catherine Martin is probably dead. She reiterates that Lecter told her she has everything she needs in the pages of the dossier to help her find “Buffalo Bill”. She opens the file again to see.

01:25:45–01:26:09 At “Buffalo Bill’s” home, he is busy sewing something. It looks like human skin.

01:26:10–01:27:14 Clarice and Ardelia work together, looking at the dossier. Ardelia finds Lecter’s handwriting on a map. It says “Clarice, doesn’t this random scattering of sites seem desperately random? — Hannibal.” Ardelia and Clarice review what Lecter said about coveting what we see every day. Referring back to the Bimmell girl whose body was weighted down, but was the first victim in the timeline, they realize that “Buffalo Bill” must have known her.

01:27:15–01:33:07 Belvedere, Ohio — caption over a car racing across a suspension bridge. Clarice is in her car, heading to a house that belonged to the Bimmell family. A coal train lumbers by. This is country Clarice knows. Finding Mr. Bimmell, he allows her to look in his deceased daughter’s room, which is still the way the victim left it. Looking around, she finds a picture of the victim and her friend. She finds Polaroids of the victim in her lingerie hidden in a music box. Who took them? Clarice wanders into another part of the house where she finds sewing forms and fabric. When she sees the diamond cut-outs on a dress, she realizes the “Buffalo Bill” is making a “woman suit made out of women.” She calls Crawford, excitedly relaying her info, but he cuts her off. They’ve found him — his name is Jamie Gumb, rejected by John Hopkins for transsexual surgery and with a criminal history. Crawford tells her they are on their way right now to nab him in Calumet CIty, near Chicago. Clarice is happy but confused. Something isn’t right. But Crawford tells her about a Customs Bill of Lading of moth pupae from Surinam addressed to J. Gumb. This nails it. Clarice wants to drive the 400 miles to join in the nab, but Crawford tells Clarice to stay in Belvedere to find murder evidence if she can. Finally, Crawford mentions that they wouldn’t have found Gumb without Clarice’s work and that it wouldn’t be forgotten.

01:33:08–01:36:24 Back in Gumb’s pit, Catherine is cooking up a plan of her own. She ties a chicken bone to a bucket and throws it up to the top of the pit. She calls out for Precious, the poodle. Meanwhile, Gumb is dressing up in human skin, applying makeup and jewelry. Finally, Precious takes the bait. It doesn’t work initially. Catherine almost gives up hope. Then Precious appears again. Gumb is now dancing and tucks his penis between his legs to appear in a mirror like he’s a woman. The sickness is almost complete.

01:36:25–01:36:39 Air National Guard HQ, Chicago, IL — caption as Crawford, his second and several SWAT officers race towards the airplane.

01:36:40–01:37:33 Clarice speaks to Bimmell’s girlfriend at a diner. The girl wants to know what working for the FBI is like, full of travel, particularly away from Belvedere. Clarice listens to her speaking about her friend. Clarice asks about whether she’ s heard the name Jamie Gumb or his alias, John Grant. She denies it. She’s sure if Bimmell had a boyfriend, she’d know about it. Asking whether or not they worked together as seamstresses, she tell Clarice they both did work for a Mrs. Lippman. Clarice asks for Mrs. Lippman’s address.

01:37:34–01:37:38 Calumet City, IL — caption over a bird’s eye view of a house on a dreary day.

01:37:39–01:37:56 Inside Gumb’s house, he removes a Death’s Head moth from it’s cocoon.

01:37:57–01:38:01 Outside the house, Crawford’s SWAT team gets into place.

01:38:02–01:38:07 Inside the house, Gumb talks to his new moth until he hears Precious bark, then SQUEAL in pain.

01:38:08–01:38:10 Outside the house, more SWAT move in.

01:38:11–01:38:16 Inside the house, Gumb rushes off to the pit, calling “Precious?”

01:38:17–01:38:18 More SWAT movement around the house.

01:38:19–01:38:25 Gumb enters the pit room, calling for his dog. Catherine yells up that the dog is with her, calling him choice names. Gumb is beside himself.

01:38:26–01:38:29 Outside the house, Crawford joins the team, taking cover behind an oak tree, revolver in hand.

01:38:30–01:38:34 Inside the house, Gumb desperately tries to figure out what to do next. Catherine demands a phone or else.

01:38:35–01:38:37 Outside the house, two of Crawford’s men move fast.

01:38:38–01:38:45 Inside the house, Gumb tries talking to Precious. Catherine tell him she’s injured and needs a vet.

01:38:46–01:38:48 Outside the house, an undercover van dressed like a flower delivery vehicle pulls up with Crawford and another agent running alongside it as cover. It stops right in front of the house.

01:38:49–01:38:58 Inside now, Catherine tells Gumb the dog has broke her leg. Gumb SCREAMS at her “Don’t you hurt my dog!’ Catherine SCREAMS back “Don’t you make me hurt your dog!” Gumb shouts “You don’t know what pain is!”

01:38:59–01:39:03 Oustide the house, an agent dressed as a delivery guy pulls out a white flower box with a red bow.

01:39:04–01:39:06 Gumb is panicking now, racing around the room looking for something.

01:39:07–01:39:11 Outside the house now, the delivery man approaches the front door of the house.

01:39:12–01:39:25 Gumb is scrambling around his room, his desk, searching. He’s panicked, angry. Finally, he finds his revolver on the bed and readies it. Catherine’s VOICE can be heard threatening Precious, demanding Gumb let her go.

01:39:25–01:39:30 Outside the house, Crawford looks ready to go as he waits for the agent to ring the bell. At the front door, the agent pushes the button.

01:39:31–01:39:36 In a canted angle on a large bell, electricity FIRES it off, throwing Gumb off his intended action of shooting Catherine in the pit.

01:39:36–01:39:44 Outside the house, the agent at the door looks back at Crawford for what to do next. Crawford nods at him and the agent RINGS the BELL again.

01:39:45–01:39:51 Inside the house, there’s no doubt, there’s someone at the door. Gumb is going to have to deal with it. Moments later, Gumb has thrown on some jeans and a shirt saying “I’m coming!”

01:39:52–01:39:56 Crawford, still taking cover behind the van, raises his walkie-talkie and says “Okay, we’re going in.” Three SWAT men point their rifles at the front door.

01:39:57 -01:40:03 Gumb opens the front door to find CLARICE holding her FBI BADGE. “Sorry to bother you, but I’m looking for the Lippman family?”

01:40:04–01:40:06 The front door is SMASHED in by a SWAT battering ram, but it’s obviously THE WRONG HOUSE.

01:40:07–01:40:11 Gumb faces Clarice and tells her the LItmman’s don’t live there anymore and tries to close the door on her. Clarice puts her foot in the door and tells Gumb she needs to speak with him.

01:40:12–01:40:14 SWAT officers clear a room, all in full battle gear. “CLEAR!”

1:40:15–01:40:19 Gumb tries to beg Clarice off. “What’s the problem, officer?” “Well, I’m investigating the murder of Fredericka Bimmell.”

01:40:20–01:40:28 SWAT guys stand in an empty house. Crawford’s second tell him “Jack, there’s no one here!” Crawford realizes the gravity of it all and says “Clarice!”

01:40:29–01:41:01 Clarice asks Gumb his name. He gives the name “Jack Gordon.” Clarice asks Gumb if he knew Mrs. Lippman. Gumb starts stuttering, trying to come up with an explanation of how he knew her. He tells Clarice that Mrs. Lippman has a son and that he has his card inside and invites her in. Clarice thanks him and enters.

01:41:02–01:41:22 Outside Gumb’s house, we now see a completely different house than the one in Calumet City, IL.

01:41:23–01:42:19 Inside Gumb’s house, he asks Clarice if they are close to catching anybody. She says “Yes. We may be.” Clarice asks Gumb if Mrs. Lippman left any documents behind. As Clarice looks at the interior of the room, she sees strange items like a massive roll of plastic and many rolls of colored thread on spools. Gumb keeps pressing Clarice for information on if they have a description of the perpetrator. Finally, Clarice HEARS FLUTTERING and a Death’s Head Moth lands on a spool of thread. Clarice now knows she’s found her man. What now?

01:41:20–01:50:02 She un-hooks her revolver, and watches Gumb squirm, business cards in hand. She asks to use his phone. We see his .357 on the stove in the other room from another angle, just waiting. Clarice DRAWS on Gumb and SHOUTS at him to FREEZE and put his hands over his head, but he dodges into the kitchen, Clarice following cautiously. Gumb STAMPS down the stairs to the basement. Shedding her coat, Clarice makes her way into the basement, BREATHING HEAVILY. She can hear strange music and Catherine SHOUTING for help. Opening a door, she finds Gumb’s basement lair. Clearing that room, she finds the pit room. Clarice barricades herself in the pit room and talks to Catherine. She tell her she’s going to have to leave the pit room. Catherine bitches her out. Clarice makes her way out of the pit room and into another room with a tub filled with blood. The LIGHTS GO OUT and Clarice is now almost completely helpless. Gumb has his NIGHT VISION GOGGLES on and watches Clarice, fascinated with her. He reaches out and almost touches her. We see her flailing against the darkness, BREATHING HEAVILY with stress. Finally, Gumb decides to end it and pulls the HAMMER BACK on his .357. It’s exactly the break Clarice needs; she swings around and empties her .38 into Gumb. One of her bullets breaks a window and light streams in exposing Gumb’s bullet ridden body, Night Vision Goggles still on his face. Clarice empties and quick loads again, just like she was trained. Gumb dies in seconds. We then see a quick montage of the same magazine cut out about “Bill Skins Fifth” that Crawford had in his office on Gumb’s wall, the broken window letting light in with an American Flag in the center, and a spinning decoration that shows butterflies on both sides.

01:50:03–01:50:25 Outside Gumb’s house, Crawford and the FBI begin their processing of the scene. Catherine Martin, still holding Precious, is escorted to an ambulance by EMTs. Clarice exits Gumb’s house and Crawford asks if she’s alright. She says “Yes.” Media people rush up to her asking her how she found her way to “Bill’s” address.

01:50:26–01:51:01 Graduation Day at the FBI academy and the Department of Justice logo on a podium reveals a man calling out a graduate’s name: CLARICE M. STARLING. She receives her permanent FBI badge and gets her graduation picture taken. Looking up, she sees Jack Crawford watching.

01:51:02–01:51:58 At the graduation celebration, Clarice gets pulled aside by Crawford. The two Smithsonian scientists are flirting with Ardelia. He tell her “Your father would be proud today.” She smiles at him. Sexual tension rises. Clarice puts out her hand and they shake. He tells her to not forget her phone call.

01:51:59–01:52:51 In the hallway, Clarice takes her phone call. It’s Lecter. Lecter asks Clarice “Have the lambs stopped screaming?” He tell her not to attempt a trace, he wouldn’t be on long enough. She asks where he is. He tells Clarice he won’t be coming for her, “The world is much more interesting with you in it. Please extend me the same courtesy.” She tells him she can’t make that promise. Lecter says he has to go, “I’m having an old friend for dinner.”

01:52:52–01:53:50 Some Caribbean island somewhere, Lecter watches Chilton exit a plane. We overhear Chilton asking about security as he rushes away. Lecter, now sporting a suit and blonde hair, slowly walks down the same street behind Chilton. Lecter doesn’t rush, he has plenty of time.

A shout-out and bounteous thanks to Dave Karner for putting together this scene-by-scene breakdown of the movie.

You can download a PDF of the breakdown here.

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