In this blog post, I’ll examine “The Silence of the Lambs”—a film I’ve loved for a long time—from the perspective of film noir, exploring the issues of identity surrounding Sterling, Hannibal Lecter, and Buffalo Bill, as well as the meanings of oppression and desire within the film.
Why View ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ as Film Noir?
‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991) is one of my all-time favorite films, dating back to my childhood when I used to watch weekend classic movie marathons on an old TV in my small bedroom. Like many people who categorize this film, I, too, had always considered ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ to be a “thriller” or “horror-thriller” without giving it much thought. However, while taking a class on oppression in horror films not long ago, I heard Professor Lee Nam-jin briefly discuss “film noir,” which sparked my interest in analyzing the noir elements of this work—a film I had previously regarded solely as a thriller.
Among the explanations regarding film noir, what caught my attention most was the fact that thrillers and film noir direct the audience’s focus in different ways. While a thriller aims to create suspense by having the audience follow the investigation to uncover the truth behind a crime, film noir focuses on the identity of the protagonist or the antagonist.
In a psychology class during the fall semester of 2005, I gave a presentation analyzing the various psychological elements revealed in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, particularly the desires and repressed emotions of the main characters—Agent Sterling, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and the serial killer Buffalo Bill. For this reason, the issue of character identity held even greater interest for me.
Consequently, in this paper, I intend to examine the film noir characteristics of ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, focusing particularly on those related to the characters’ identities.
What is film noir?
In ‘The Structure of Hollywood Genres’, Thomas Schatz explains that film noir itself is not so much a specific genre or a formulaic story as it is a distinct cinematic style, a specific historical period, and a system of conventions regarding the perspectives and themes associated with that period.
An article I came across online defines film noir as “films that deal with crime, employ a dark and heavy atmosphere and strong shadows, and feature anti-heroic protagonists,” while also explaining that the term’s meaning has become significantly diluted in recent years, to the point where it is now used as a general term for any crime film with a dark atmosphere. In addition, it is not difficult to find instances where the term “noir” is applied to many films, such as the term “Hong Kong noir,” popularized by ‘A Better Tomorrow’, or the recent designation of ‘The Elegant World’ as “lifestyle noir.”
However, I believe that “film noir” as a genre cannot be defined solely by a film’s subject matter or style. If we approach crime films purely from a formal and stylistic perspective, countless films could be classified as noir—or, conversely, as horror or thrillers.
I believe film noir is a genre that must be defined not only by stylistic aspects but also by substantive and profound elements such as the characters, the way conflicts are resolved, and the film’s perspective on the world it portrays. When the representative stylistic elements of film noir—such as dark screens, contrasts of light and shadow, and protagonists with a sense of lack—go beyond mere symbolism and are explained in conjunction with the director’s reflection on the relationship between the world and humanity as conveyed through the film, only then can that film be classified as “film noir” in the true sense of the genre.
I believe that Director Park Chan-wook’s ‘Oldboy’ can be classified as film noir because the formal elements he employed—such as lighting, color palette, space, composition, and camera techniques—form a strong connection with the in-depth exploration of the individual self-identities of characters ranging from Lee Woo-jin and Oh Dae-su to Mido.
The Film Noir Form in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’
‘The Silence of the Lambs’ exhibits characteristics of film noir on various levels. These can be broadly divided into formal aspects—that is, stylistic elements—and content-related aspects—that is, thematic and worldview elements.
In ‘The Structure of Hollywood Genres’, Schatz identifies Orson Welles’ ‘Citizen Kane’ as the most important work of 1940s American expressionist noir and discusses the seven recurring techniques that characterize film noir, as proposed by Schrader.
First, most scenes are shot at night.
Second, diagonal and vertical lines are preferred over horizontal lines.
Third, actors and sets are often illuminated with equal intensity.
Fourth, compositional tension is preferred over physical action.
Fifth, there is a Freudian fixation on reflective objects such as water, mirrors, and windows.
Sixth, there is a preference for romantic narration.
Seventh, complex temporal arrangements emphasize future despair and lost time.
When analyzing ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ based on the seven techniques mentioned by Schroeder, the film first adheres relatively faithfully to the fundamentals of the noir style—dark screens, visual contrasts between light and darkness, and the use of shadows.
Of course, when compared to David Fincher’s ‘Seven’—which stands shoulder-to-shoulder with ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ as a neo-noir—or Park Chan-wook’s ‘Oldboy’, mentioned earlier, ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ appears to rely on relatively ordinary brightness, or daylight, to drive a significant portion of the film. However, this can be understood as a lighting technique intended to make dark scenes even darker and to highlight the contrast between light and shadow more effectively. Furthermore, even in scenes lit by natural light, the film achieves a noir style by using achromatic tones or color contrasts, such as the contrast between gray and red.
Furthermore, by using elements such as prison bars to cast shadows on characters—particularly on Dr. Hannibal Lecter’s face and body—the film effectively conveys his state of physical and psychological oppression. By using lighting that places the face on the same level as the surrounding space—and especially by employing dim lighting that reveals only a silhouette with virtually no visible facial expression—we identify with the character to the point where we feel as if we have become Hannibal Lecter, speaking to Sterling, or as if we have become Sterling, listening to his story.
Furthermore, the film favors vertical or diagonal compositions—achieved through low-angle, high-angle, and oblique camera movements—rather than horizontal and stable compositions. These vertical and diagonal compositions do more than simply induce psychological tension by making the audience feel visual instability; they are particularly impressive in that they serve as a device to effectively reveal the characters’ psychological instability.
Furthermore, by reversing narrative time through natural flashbacks, the film powerfully reveals Sterling’s memories of his father’s death and the oppressive memories surrounding the sheep on the farm.
The Identities of Sterling, Lecter, and Buffalo Bill
In terms of content, the first point worth noting is the issue of character and identity regarding the main figures: Agent Sterling, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and the serial killer Buffalo Bill.
First, Clarice Sterling, an FBI trainee, is, on the surface, a very strong and intelligent woman. In the film’s opening scene, Jonathan Demme shows Sterling undergoing intense physical training for a full three minutes. These training scenes are repeatedly inserted between sequences until the middle of the film, seemingly portraying Sterling as a “woman as strong as any man.”
However, this image is soon subverted in various sequences, constantly revealing the protagonist’s past and present sexual oppression as a “woman.” In particular, the scene where she is sexually humiliated by an inmate in the adjacent cell during her first encounter with Dr. Lecter, and the scene capturing Sterling’s gaze as she struggles to find a place to look amid the suggestive stares of numerous male police officers, deal in depth with the issues of sexual oppression and alienation that a “woman” must inevitably endure, as well as the struggle to overcome them.
Furthermore, despite graduating from a prestigious university with honors, she does not fit into the typical American family structure but stands amidst memories of a broken family. Memories of her father’s death and her escape from a relative’s farm—which she could no longer endure—are the very reasons why she, despite appearing perfect on the surface, becomes a noir protagonist marked by emotional deprivation and psychological instability.
Above all, Sterling’s psychological instability and identity crisis are clearly evident in her childhood memories—linked to the film’s title, ‘The Cry of the Lambs’—and her recurring nightmares. I will examine this in greater detail later through a scene-by-scene analysis.
The second character, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, was once a highly skilled psychiatrist, but after committing acts of cannibalism, he was classified as a dangerous individual and has been imprisoned in a maximum-security facility for the past eight years.
On the surface, he too is defined as a psychopath—a figure embodying social evil—whose “blood pressure never exceeded 85 even when eating a woman’s tongue.” However, as will become clear from the scenes examined later, he also displays traits reminiscent of a psychologist in the way he helps Sterling achieve psychological liberation.
Furthermore, his practice of eating “human flesh” is, along with incest, one of the most powerful taboos in numerous civilized societies. By constantly consuming human flesh, Dr. Lecter is directly challenging the powerful taboos of modern civilization.
Buffalo Bill, a serial killer, is a character who desires to become a “woman” by skinning the women he murders to make clothes. This sexual confusion can be seen as a quintessential characteristic of noir characters, and underlying his confusion over sexual identity are painful memories of physical abuse during childhood and the frustration of being denied gender reassignment surgery at various hospitals.
In other words, he developed psychological disorders by simultaneously enduring the most fundamental forms of repression we face: repression of childhood and repression of freedom regarding sexual identity.
This issue of self-identity is symbolically represented by the word “metamorphosis”—uttered enigmatically by Hannibal Lecter—and by the silkworm cocoon found in the murdered woman’s prayer.
Just as a butterfly emerging from a cocoon “metamorphoses” into a new being, the identity confusion and anguish experienced by Buffalo Bill, and by extension, Sterling and Dr. Lecter, are also a process of “metamorphosis” aimed at finding their true selves in the face of social oppression.
The Bleating of Sheep and Sterling’s Repressed Memories
Whenever I watch ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, the scene that leaves the deepest impression is the one in which Sterling and Lecter discuss the masochistic childhood memories of the sheep—memories he cannot let go of—that are embedded in Sterling’s recurring nightmares.
In ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’, Freud defines the unconscious as the space where repression accumulates, and he elaborates on that world and dreams as its form of expression. According to him, dreams exist within a continuum with reality; therefore, by interpreting dreams in relation to reality, one can liberate the repressed elements that have been suppressed within the unconscious.
Lecter, who was originally a psychiatrist, poses questions in the manner of a psychologist conducting a counseling session, prompting Sterling to speak about these internal repressions.
Sterling’s memory of failing to free the sheep on the farm as a child and fleeing alone is repeatedly revealed through nightmares in which he constantly hears the bleating of sheep. Furthermore, this is equated with rescuing Catherine, who is being held captive by Buffalo Bill, and Lecter is drawing this latent connection out into the open.
This goes beyond mere “probing” or “hitting the nail on the head.” By compelling Sterling to bring out into the open the issue he had been repressing—the very issue that caused him constant anxiety and confusion regarding his ontological identity—Lecter is liberating Sterling from his fundamental repression, even if it does not amount to complete healing.
The Glass Between Sterling and Lecter
Another striking element in this scene is the “glass” between the two men.
An obsession with reflective objects—such as water, mirrors, and glass—is one of the key characteristics of film noir, as mentioned by Schrader. In ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, glass is used particularly prominently; among these, the thick pane of glass between Lecter and Sterling serves both as a window through which they can see each other and as a mirror in which they can see themselves.
Furthermore, by simultaneously showing Sterling on the other side of the glass and Lecter’s face reflected in it, this glass serves as a pivotal object that brilliantly illustrates the empathetic connection the two men feel toward one another as marginalized figures within society’s dominant ideology.
I find it striking that this glass does not function merely as a barrier physically separating the two men. Rather, by allowing them to gaze at one another while simultaneously reflecting each other’s images, it feels like a device that visually illustrates their identities and psychological relationship.
Repression, Desire, and Self-Identity
In his theory of desire, Lacan discusses human nature’s desire and repression—as well as the formation and socialization of the self through these processes—via three realms: the Imaginary, where a young child experiences joy or confusion between reality and fiction upon seeing their reflection in a mirror; the Symbolic, the world of universal order composed of language and culture and the realm of self-formation; and the Real, which arises from the harmonious integration of these two.
The Real—that is, reality—is not composed of either the Imaginary or the Symbolic alone, but is achieved through the balanced harmony of these two realms. When the Imaginary, which recognizes and projects desire, and the Symbolic, which controls it in an orderly manner, achieve proper harmony, a person can establish a true sense of self-identity.
However, our society places excessive emphasis on the symbolic order while overlooking the importance of the imaginary order, busily suppressing various desires. In this context, individuals suppressed by others feel alienation and confusion, and this psychological instability forms the root of various urban problems, particularly crime.
I believe film noir is a genre that not only critiques the pathological behavior of such a society but also urges us to reflect with profound depth on the identity issues that individuals face as autonomous beings within that society.
In this context, ‘The Silence of the Lambs’—alongside extreme characters such as a former psychiatrist who eats human flesh and a serial killer who makes clothes out of a woman’s skin in hopes of becoming a woman—condenses and captures the fundamental oppression and existential dilemmas faced by women in modern society, who appear so proper and ideal.
For this reason, I believe ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ is a masterpiece that very effectively fulfills the most important function of film noir.
