Climax and Resolution (110 min.)
- She
has a showdown with Buffalo Bill and wins. Starling graduates - and gets a phone call from Hannibal, still
on the loose, planning to have "an old friend for dinner," his prison
psychiatrist.
Notes
The Silence of the Lambs struggles in its focus between being the
story of Starling and the story of Hannibal. Hannibal is a far more interesting
character, so much so that we loose sight of the protagonist for an unusually
long period of time midway through the movie. As a result, the story suffers
because the protagonist suffers - the scale is tipped too much, and we lose
focus on the very person who should be at the center of the story. This
story is based on a novel, and such adaptations often face challenges of
focus.
At the same time, the film was highly successful in commercial terms, which
shows that flawed stories can still be box-office hits if they have something
about them that appeals to viewers. And in this case, it's the antagonist,
and the brilliant performance by Anthony Hopkins, that carries the film.
But the story would be even stronger if the protagonist were not shoved to
the back seat for long stretches of the mid-action, and if many of her
conflicts came into sharper focus.
MODULE 4:
SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting
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