The Silence Of The Lambs Analysis

The Silence of the Lambs displays the unique style of director Jonathan Demme (1944), “an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. “Demme began in exploitation for Roger Corman as a writer and producer on Angels Hard As They Come (1971), and made his completed directorial debut with the lively women-in-prison picture Caged Heat (1974). Although he handled straight action with Fighting Mad (1976), and a Hitchcockian thriller with Last Embrace (1979), Demme specialized in quirky, blackly comic road movies such as Crazy Mama (1975), Melvin and Howard (1980), and Something Wild (1986). He gravitated toward mainstream comedy with Swing Shift (1984) and Married to the Mob (1988)” (Schneider 476).

His documentary film Stop Making Sense (1984) based on the innovative, rock group The Talking Heads, was one of the best chronicles of a new wave music band that was very avant-garde combining punk, art rock, funk, pop music, and the movie managed to translate all that. However, Demme is “best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs (1991), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director. He later directed the acclaimed films Philadelphia (1993)” (Wikipedia), and later The Manchurian Candidate (2004). Demme’s directing approach covers a wide range of genres, most notably

He had the final word on lighting and framing of the movie. Fujimoto has collaborated with Demme on several films and knows what the director likes. An example of this teamwork is based on some key camera scenes that help to establish the main character, Clarice’s perspective on the male dominate world and the hostile environment the surrounds her in her pursuit to locate Buffalo Bill. “The point-of-view (POV) camera takes the place of the scrutinizing men in her life, and when she enters dangerous spaces, it is there waiting for her instead of following her in” (Ebert