MovieChat Forums > The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Discussion > Why do you think Lector changes his mind...

Why do you think Lector changes his mind and decides to help Clarice?...

posted 10 years ago by jamesrallan
22 replies | jump to latest

Seen this film lots of times and is in my top 5 of all time so there is not nit picking or owt from me!

The scene where he attacks her and takes piss out of her cheap shoes etc...after he tells her to fly fly away. Then Migs....does what he does and he calls her back.

Do you think it is just because of Migs, or is it something else? Did he realise he liked her and wanted her to come back and he would help her?

Just welcome other peoples opinions on this part

[–] dlbearcave-2 9 years ago

He started out just manipulating her, it was what he did for amusement. But she opened up to him, let him into her head and he found she was interesting and not just some 2 dimensional cop-type. It had to mean a lot to him as a psychiatrist to have someone do that after all the yrs locked up and everyone "en garde" against his mind-games. In short, he loved her for being a real person.

[–] yusef-ghanima 9 years ago

maybe he wanted to eat her and thought her meat would be softer if she's more successful and calm down.

[–] Abhi_Original 9 years ago

If you are talking about him changing his mind to help Clarice after only that scene in particular (which also happened to be their 1st meeting) -

The scene where he attacks her and takes piss out of her cheap shoes etc...after he tells her to fly fly away. Then Migs....does what he does and he calls her back.

Then, I guess it was just a sudden change of heart or mind, perhaps. It is mentioned in the novel that Lecter used to ate rude people. At first, he thought she was just a pawn sent by Crawford, and found her incompetence and inexperience disrespectful towards himself. Later, he rudely disrespects her on their first meeting, but she did not react and walked away quietly. It is possible that he liked her attitude, found her innocent and fascinating (he hadn't seen a woman for 8 years after all) and felt bad about what Migs did with her. Or maybe, he found her easy to manipulate and saw an opportunity to escape through her.

[–] latinraiders781 9 years ago

She reminds him or has as similarities to his dead sister Mishca.

[–] latinraiders781 9 years ago

She reminds him or has as similarities to his dead sister Mishca.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] setanta- 9 years ago

[Do you think it is just because of Migs, or is it something else?]

I think that Lecter did not like being upstaged by Migs. The 'discourtesy' bit is a lot of rubbish: He is rude and crude to her. But all things considered Migs stood to leave the more lasting impression, and that he could not abide.

[–] redban (6318) a year ago

It’s implied that he fell in love. He draws a photo of her with the lambs. He touches her briefly when he gives her back the file. He says, “people will think we’re in love” when she comes to see him at the museum etc etc etc