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. It stars Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee who is hunting a serial killer known as "Buffalo Bill" (Ted Levine), who skins his female victims. To catch him, she seeks the advice of the imprisoned Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial murderer. The film also features performances by Scott Glenn, Anthony Heald, and Kasi Lemmons. Released on February 14, 1991, the film was a sleeper hit, grossing $272.7 million worldwide on a $19 million budget and becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of the year. It premiered at the 41st Berlin International Film Festival, where Demme won the Silver Bear for Best Director. At the 64th Academy Awards, it became the third—and most recent—film to win the "Big Five" categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It remains the only horror film to have won 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 its list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. The American Film Institute ranked it the sixty-fifth greatest film in American cinema and the fifth-greatest thriller, while Starling and Lecter were included among the greatest film heroines and villains. The film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically" significant by the U.S. Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2011. The film has drawn criticism for its portrayal of gender identity, particularly regarding the character of Buffalo Bill, which some critics argue perpetuates harmful stereotypes. Director Jonathan Demme and others have defended the film's intentions, noting that the character is not explicitly transgender. The film launched a franchise that includes the sequel Hannibal (2001), the prequels Red Dragon (2002) and Hannibal Rising (2007), and two television adaptations.