Audrey Rose

Anthony Hopkins once had a full head of non-grey hair. That's the single most unrealistic thing about this movie for me. I think this is may be the only film prior to Silence of the Lambs that I've seen him in, so a 1970s Anthony Hopkins was quite a shock.

This is a movie that's subtle in it's horror. It's a film that deals with the fear of uncertainty, and the terror of human existence. Elliot Hoover (Hopkins) believes that his late daughter, Audrey Rose (not depicted, as far as I can tell), has been reincarnated as Ivy Templeton (Susan Swift), the daughter of Bill and Janice Templeton (John Beck and Marsha Mason). Obviously, this does not make for a happy situation.

To be more specific, Hoover's daughter died roughly a decade prior to the events of the movie, in a car crash where she was burned alive. Hoover became desperate for spiritual comfort, and came to believe in reincarnation. A medium described her spirit's current location to him, and Hoover was able to trace the location to the Templeton's apartment complex, and specifically to Ivy who was born on the same day as Audrey Rose's death. Eventually, he moves into an apartment in their building.

During this period, Ivy begins to experience intense nightmares and panic attacks. This becomes the driving conflict of the film. Hoover seems to be able to comfort Ivy by addressing her as Audrey Rose, something that deeply disturbs the Templetons, for obvious reasons. Janice seems willing to accept his assistance in dealing with their daughter, however, as long as it helps Ivy. Bill, on the other hand, sees him purely as an intruder in their family affairs.

Eventually, Hoover takes Ivy to his apartment to let her sleep, and refuses to open the door for her parents. Bill has him charged with kidnapping. This section of the movie confuses me deeply. Hoover's lawyer defends him by trying to convince the jury that Ivy is the reincarnation of Audrey Rose.. I'm unaware of any legal precedent that gives people custody of the reincarnations of their children, so it seems like an utterly moot point in a kidnapping trial.

It's notable that the movie doesn't attempt to make Hoover out to be the completely selfless, persecuted mystic that you'd typically expect in this story. He loves his daughter, yes, but he's also clearly prepared to manipulate the situation to get what he wants. I don't doubt for a second that if he could find a way to get full custody of Ivy he would do so without a second thought for her parents. He even tells his lawyer to put Janice on the stand, because he knows that she'll break down and turn on her husband.

Bill makes a good contrast to Hoover. He believes, not unreasonably, that Hoover is a master of suggestion, and that their daughter's condition is being made worse by his reinforcement. He doesn't come across as unreasonable, but he likewise doesn't seem to have any better solutions as Ivy's behavior becomes increasingly uncontrollable, and she begins making attempts to harm herself.

The ending of the movie seems too clean and simple for this story. Ivy dies in a regression experiment requested by her father that was, somehow, intended to “prove” she wasn't a reincarnation of Audrey Rose. The parents agree to let Hoover take her ashes to India, something I find rather baffling since Hoover's spiritual travels to India came after his daughter died, and I don't believe Audrey Rose went there in either of her incarnations. Apparently India is just where the body of reincarnated little girls are supposed to go.

This isn't a terrible movie, but it isn't exactly a classic either. I know it's adapted from a novel, so I suspect the plot made more sense in that context. As it is, it's a strong character piece, that makes little sense as a legal drama, and has little of value to say spiritually.

100 Scariest Movie Moments: #7 The Silence of the Lambs

With many of the movies on this list, I enjoyed them more with later viewings. Sometimes, I really just didn’t get them the when I first saw them. Sadly though, the opposite has happened with Silence of the Lambs, as I began to see its flaws. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great movie, but it’s also a very emotionally manipulative film. Many scenes simply ring false, with an assumption that there’s always an underlying logic to all human behavior. However, I don’t want to focus on the negative aspects of such an otherwise fine film. Besides, it’s not as if Silence’s many imitators aren’t infinitely more guilty of painting a picture of criminal profilers as some kind of magicians.

To give the obligatory summary, FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Jodi Foster) is sent to interview serial killer and cannibal psychiatrist Hannibal Lector (Anthony Hopkins) to get information on another serial killer nick-named Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) before he kills again. As we follow her, we witness Bill’s latest kidnapping, and Hannibal plays mind games as he tries to entertain himself and regain his freedom through any means necessary.

I think Hannibal Lector is a famous villain mainly because most people imagine themselves to be such special snowflakes that we don’t think he’d kill us. Even if we don’t think he’d love us, we at least imagine he’d want to be our friend in some way. We’re not the kind of “rude” assholes he eats. We’re interesting subject’s he’d want to study extensively. I, on the other hand, fully expect that he’d eat me, either out of sheer boredom or annoyance.

Does this mean I don’t like him as a villain? Hell no. He’s a brilliant chess master, always one step ahead of everyone else. Anthony Hopkins absolutely steals the show in portraying this cannibalistic madman. He’s funny and charming, and always entertaining to watch… it’s just that I don’t want to let him too close to me.

Of course, Hannibal himself is only a small part of the equation that makes this film work. The movie as a whole strikes a perfect balance between action and drama. The stakes are kept high enough that dialogue scenes still resound with us and we never grow bored. Foster and Hopkins both won Oscars for their performances, but not nearly enough credit has been given to Ted Levine and Brooke Smith as Buffalo Bill and his next victim. Smith never comes across as weak while filling the role of a damsel-in-distress. Levine on the other hand strikes a fascinating dichotomy of a blue-collar hick crossed with a geek.

I should note that I sometimes find the criminal profiler explanation of Buffalo Bill as somewhat at odds with the person we see. I’m not sure where the disconnect is, but the investigators see Bill as someone who creates his own world and fills it with things he values... but then he shoves moth larvae down the throats of his victims as some kind of message to investigators. I feel like he should value the moths more than that. Perhaps this was to show the fallibility of the investigators, I don’t know. Maybe they didn't understand Bill as well as they thought they did.

That said, what we see works. Every scene builds towards the climax. Every character encountered contributes something to our understanding of the world and the situation. Then, it all comes down to a simple confrontation in a dark room.

I'm writing the final draft of this review in September of 2015, to be uploaded in June of 2016. As of now, the show Hannibal is officially canceled, but the creators are still shopping it around to other distributors, hoping they can still adapt the remaining books in the series. If they succeed, then I imagine the show’s writers will have a nightmare on their hands when they adapt Silence. As it’s highly doubtful, even with a full season’s running time, that they could come close to matching the original.