The Silence of the Lambs 1991

The Film:

This one is a bit of an epic, in a very different way to last year's offering. It's one of the most well known of all Oscar winners - but probably not because it's one of only three to have won the "Big Five" (after It Happened One Night and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest). It also happens to be one of the most quoted and parodied of all films in recent years.                                                                                                                                      This is the first of several 90s winners that are inextricably linked in my mind with French and Saunders (I can think of at least three more that are coming up!). Which does sort of spoil the tension a bit. I've also got a very strong image of Hugh Dennis doing a Hannibal Lecter impression on The Mary Whitehouse Experience - I think it was a send up of Masterchef! 

And, of course, fava beans and chianti will never be quite the same for people of a certain age.....

The Ceremony:

March 30th 1992 - same host, but back at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion this year. The show had pretty much the same general format, and ran to about the same length. The reviews were good and the ratings went up again.

There was some controversy in the lead up to the Ceremony, with various protests from LGBT activists (particularly Queer Nation). They objected to the negative portrayal of LGBT characters in Silence of the Lambs and JFK (and also Basic Instinct, which was being heavily promoted at the time). I'm not sure quite how far Hollywood has moved on since then - significantly more awards have been given to actors portraying LGBT characters and films with LGBT themes. The characters (generally) aren't villains any more, but they still usually have a miserable time and an untimely death.....

Other Notable Winners That Night:

Not actually an Oscar - just the recipient of one!

Silence of the Lambs did something that has only been done twice before - scooped the top five awards. That didn't leave much of any note for anyone else that night. The Supporting acting awards went to Jack Palance and Mercedes Ruel and the other Screenplay award went to Thelma and Louise, written by Callie Khouri - who has the eternal respect of this household for creating the TV series Nashville.

The only other film to win more than two awards this year was Terminator 2 - which won two for its sound and two for its visuals. In terms of the visual awards, it's definitely a taste of things to come, as computer technology starts to develop at an incredible rate!



Best Song:

Most of the nominees came from Beauty and the Beast and the only real rival was Bryan Adams and THAT song that was number one when I finished first year at Uni and was still number one when I started second year..... Anyway, the title track won and was sung live on the night by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson (with a bit of Angela Landsbury in the background). We'll have enough of Celine Dion later on this decade, so here is just the Dame Angela version:

What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

Tale as old as time......

Even if it is really just a jumped-up B movie, I think I'm still going to give it to The Silence of the Lambs.

Of the other nominees, I thought Prince of Tides was boring, JFK is problematic and I still need to watch Bugsy. Thelma and Louise and Boyz N The Hood should probably also have got a look in.

It's the fifth nominee that got the most attention, as Beauty and the Beast became the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture. (It was thought it would be the only one, as the Best Animated Feature Award was introduced soon after - but, since the number of nominees for Best Picture was widened, there's been a few more). It's a lovely film, with the central characters of a fiesty young woman and a locked-away beast. But that's where the similarities between this and the actual winner end!


Our Verdict:

An Oscar for him......

This is a film that I've seen a few times (including at the cinema when it first came out) and one that I remember really liking. However, I hadn't seen it for quite some time and my head was so full of parodies that I really wasn't sure how it would hold up. Also, the villain is a problematic trans character who tortures and kills women for their skin - and I was really not sure quite how problematic that would be.

Generally speaking, I really enjoyed (if that's the right word) watching the film again. It's generally well written and very well acted, cleverly paced with good moments of tension and shock. It's also the goriest of the films we've watched so far (and is still the only horror film to win). And - hooray! - it's led by a strong female character that gets most of the lines (I'm still counting them on one hand since the 60s!)

......and an Oscar for her.

Anthony Hopkins, who I otherwise picture as a mild-mannered bookshop owner or a repressed English butler, is truly terrifying as Lecter (and only ever so slightly Welsh....) It's as much what he doesn't do as what he does. It's all very underplayed, with staring eyes suggesting all of the evil genius that is going on behind them.

Not French and Saunders

Jodie Foster holds her own opposite him and keeps the film going. She manages to be vulnerable and relateable but never weak. We're able to get behind her viewpoint really well.

The aforementioned problematic villain, Buffalo Bill, is not as problematic (imho) as I had initially feared. I'm happy to be corrected, but I see them far more as a psychopath who happens to be trans (or, as the film suggests, has a psychosis brought on by trauma that makes them think their trans) rather than any suggestion of a negative attitude towards trans people or the LGBT+ community. The whole portrayal is generally a bit dated but I think the character comes across well. And, of course, it is possible to argue that the real villain is Lecter himself.....

Not Hugh Dennis

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this film after all this time, and in the context of this challenge. However, I don't see it as being in the same league as the other Big Five winners - and it's not a classic winner. This is definitely only a B movie, made a bit special with A-list acting. It had a good campaign and great word of mouth in a year where the competition wasn't that great.

But it's very entertaining and it's given us a few (unintended) laughs along the way....