Movie Analysis: “The Silence of the Lambs” — Part 5: Dialogue

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.

Our schedule for discussion this week:

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

Today: Dialogue.

Some questions to consider in relation to dialogue in The Silence of the Lambs.

• What do you consider to be the most memorable lines… and why?
• Any notable callbacks (a line used once, then used again later in a different context)?
• How about set-up & payoffs?
• Any exposition that caught your eye for being handled exceptionally well?

Head to RESPONSES and let me know what dialogue in the script made the most impact on you.

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.

I am looking for volunteers to do more movie scene-by-scene breakdowns. Pick your favorite movie, classic or contemporary, and immerse yourself in it by going through it scene by scene. Trust me, this is a terrific learning opportunity and a fantastic way to study a movie’s story structure.

If you’d like to volunteer, let me know which movie you want to break down in this thread Response section.

For Part 1, to read the Scene-By-Scene Breakdown discussion, go here.

For Part 2, to read the Plot discussion, go here.

For Part 3, to read Characters discussion, go here.

For Part 4, to read Themes, go here.

For more Go Into The Story Movie Analysis posts, go here.

For Go Into The Story Script Analysis posts, go here.