Why did Hannibal hiss at Clarice during their first meeting?
When Hannibal first meets Clarice, he talks about how he cannibalized a census taker:
A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.
He follows that line up by hissing at Clarice.
I'm confused what the meaning behind the hiss is. One of the defining characteristics of Hannibal is that he's obsessively polite and abhors impoliteness in others, and hissing directly at your conversation partner during your first meeting feels exceptionally rude. In fact, it sounds like something Miggs would do.
I've read a lot about the intricacies of Anthony Hopkins' acting in this film, is there any in-character reason for the hiss?
Best Answer
He's testing her.
Clarice is a trainee sent to him as a part of evaluation. First he made sure she know that he knows that the initial chit-chat was to gain trust and ask him to fill out the form.
Then he proceeded to talk about her life, past, dreams and family. She seemed to be disturbed but insisted to push her.
So then he resorted to trying to terrify her with violence. She didn't have a comeback to that so Lecter sent her back to Crawford with HER own evaluation "I failed".
IMHO Lecter was willing to help Crawford from the start. It's part of his constant game to escape and he knows that by helping he will get something in return. He just likes to play games and is curious as to why Crawford didn't come to him himself or to send a real agent.
He probably suspects that Clarice is something extraordinary if, as a trainee, she was sent to face the Hannibal-cannibal.
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Why does Hannibal Lecter make that noise?
He says the line: I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti" and then starts going "slurp slurp slurp" very rapidly and bares his teeth. My Mum says it was probably inspired by something similar that animals (especially cats) do when they spot prey and want to eat it.Why was Hannibal so interested in Clarice?
Hannibal's obsession with Clarice derives from parallels that he draws from both himself and his dead sister, Misha. Hannibal unexplainably gets it into his head that Clarice is the perfect vessel for Misha's conscious.Is Hannibal in love with Clarisse?
You see, Hannibal and Clarice didn't love one another. There was no \u201chuman love\u201d between them, like Jodie Foster mentioned in her interview. There was nothing there because Lecter is incapable of feeling love, or empathy, or any type of altruism at all.How does Hannibal feel about Clarice?
Hannibal Lecter: A Psycho with an Unlikely Soft Spot The cannibal psychiatrist from The Silence of the Lambs is a murderous madman -- but he comes to be fond of FBI agent Clarice Starling. It's that evil-with-a-sweet-streak thing that's behind his appeal.The Silence of the Lambs great scene - Clarice \u0026 Hannibal's first meeting
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