Lambs of the Silence

I’ve only ever seen “Silence of the Lambs” once. After resisting it for years, I finally agreed to see it on a small screen with the understanding that I’d hide my eyes during all of the violent parts. (I practiced this method of movie-watching also with Friday the Thirteenth Part I, and was the only person at the birthday party who could get to sleep when the movie was over. After all, I did miss ¾ of the movie.) When Friday wrote in the comments section of my Backwards Films post, “I'd love to hear your take on the backwards version of something ghoulish, like Silence of the Lambs,” I knew I would need the help of a plot summary. Here, then, is my best shot:

The Lambs of the Silence

In a strange, alternative-futuristic world, Clarisse Starling, an FBI agent, gets demoted after letting anti-L'Oreal skin-care specialist “Buffalo Bill” get away to continue practicing his holistic treatments upon young women who are trying to shun the mainstream cosmetics market. She comes into contact with Hannibal Lector, a psychiatrist who is infamous for actually curing his patients instead of bilking them for all they’re worth. Hannibal Lector has been put in a maximum security prison, and yet he is constantly found to be healing the sick in mind and body. Clarisse has gone to Hannibal Lector to get help in finding Buffalo Bill again, because the senator’s daughter is in dire need of a chemical-free makeover. At last, the senator’s daughter finds Buffalo Bill, but despite all that Clarisse has tried to do, spurns Clarisse’s help. Clarisse is despondent, because she knows she will never be re-promoted to FBI agent, but she finds solace in moving out to the farm of her childhood. There, in a pastoral setting, Clarisse looks up into the clouds and finally finds peace and serenity in “the lambs of the silence.”