Hannibal (film)

Hannibal is a 2001 film, adapted from the Thomas Harris novel Hannibal. It is the sequel to The Silence of the Lambs. One of Hannibal Lecter's victims, Mason Verger, is seeking to capture, torture, and kill Dr. Lecter.

Directed by Ridley Scott. Written by Thomas Harris (novel), and David Mamet and Steven Zaillian (screenplay).

Mason Verger was a fictional character in the novel “Hannibal” written by Thomas Harris about a despicable character and avowed pedophile who was hideously disfigured by the serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lector. In the novel, while Verger is demonstrating his autoerotic asphyxiation, Dr. Lector offered him amyl nitrate and several other mind-altering drugs and convinced Verger to tear his face off with a shard of mirror and feed it to his pet dogs. Verger does so, and also gouges out one of his eyes and eats his own nose. So, Does Art Imitate Life? Or, Does Life Imitate Art.” [towards the end].. "Apparently Art Does Imitate Life."^[1]

• [to Barney, on a recording from his imprisonment] There are shallow rollers, and there are deep rollers. You can't breed two deep rollers... or their young, their offspring, will roll all the way down, hit, and die. Agent Starling is a deep roller, Barney. Let us hope one of her parents was not.
• What is worst about this humiliation, Clarice? Is it how your failure will reflect on your mommy and daddy? Is your worst fear that people will now and forever believe they were indeed just good old trailer-camp, tornado-bait white trash, and that perhaps you are too?
• [in a letter to Clarice Starling] Dear Clarice, I have followed with enthusiasm the course of your disgrace and public shaming. My own never bothered me, except for the inconvenience of being incarcerated, but you may lack perspective.
• [in a letter to Clarice Starling] By the way I couldn't help noticing on the FBI's rather dull public website that I have been hoisted from the Bureau's archives of the common criminal and elevated to the more prestigious 10 Most Wanted list. Is this coincidence, or are you back on the case? If so, goody goody, cause I need to come out of retirement and return to public life.
• [in a letter to Clarice Starling] Your job is to craft my doom... so I'm not sure how well I should wish you... but I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun. Ta-ta. "H."
• Could he daily feel a stab of hunger for her, and find nourishment in the very sight of her? I think so. But would she see through the bars of his plight and ache for him?
• My life? What is there to say about mine? I have been in a state of hibernation for some time... a little inactive. But now I'm back home and I'm very happy, and very healthy. You, though. It's you I'm worried about.
• Do you have so much faith in your abilities that you honestly believe you can somehow simultaneously arrest me and them? It could get very messy, Clarice, like the fish market.
• [repeated line] Okey-dokey, here we go.
• My freedom, just that. You'd take that from me. And if you did, would they have you back, do you think? The FBI? Those people you despise almost as much as they despise you? Will they give you a medal, Clarice, do you think? Would you have it professionally framed and hang it on your wall to look at and remind you of your courage and incorruptibility? All you would need for that, Clarice, is a mirror.
• [to Rinaldo Pazzi] On a related subject, I must confess to you, I'm giving very serious thought... to eating your wife.

• [about Dr. Lecter] He's always with me. Like a bad habit.
• This is from the Guinness Book of World Records, congratulating me on being the female FBI Agent who has shot and killed the most people.

• It's all right. I have immunity from the U.S. Attorney. And I have immunity... from the risen Jesus. And nobody beats the Riz.
• [to Clarice] Isn't it funny? You can look at my face... but you shied when I said the name of God.
• When the fox hears the rabbit scream, he comes a-runnin'... but not to help.

Mason Verger: You know, I thank God for what happened. It was my salvation. Have you accepted Jesus, Agent Starling? Do you have faith?

Clarice Starling: I was raised Lutheran.

Mason Verger: That's not what I asked.

---

[Mason Verger is recounting the day Lecter disfigured him]

Mason Verger: The good doctor approached me with a piece of broken mirror and said, "Try this"...

[In the flashback, Lecter is holding a shard of broken glass]

Hannibal Lecter: Try peeling off your face...

Mason Verger: "...and feeding it to the dogs." [In the flashback, Verger cuts off parts of his face] Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

---

Agent Pearsall: Of course you're right, Starling... but it doesn't change anything.

Clarice Starling: It changes everything. It changes me.

---

Paul Krendler: Jesus, Starling! What are you doing sitting there in the dark?

Clarice Starling: Thinking about cannibalism.

---

Clarice Starling: Paul, what is it with you? I told you to go home to your wife, was that wrong?

Paul Krendler: Don't flatter yourself, Starling. That was a long time ago. Why would I hold that against you? Besides, this town is full of cornpone country pussy.

---

Mason Verger: I might be able to get a cookie now. What do you think, Cordell?

Cordell Doemling: I think it would kill you.

---

Mason Verger: So what do you think, Cordell? Does Lecter want to fuck her or kill her or eat her alive?

Cordell Doemling: Probably all three, though I wouldn't want to predict in what order.

---

Mason Verger: What do you think?

Paul Krendler: I could have handled this.

Mason Verger: Oh, coulda, woulda, shoulda. I mean what do you think about the money?

Paul Krendler: Five.

Mason Verger: Oh, let's just toss it off like 'five'! Let's say it with the respect it deserves.

Paul Krendler: Five hundred thousand dollars.

Mason Verger: Well, that's better, but not much. Will it work?

Paul Krendler: It'll work. Won't be pretty.

Mason Verger: What ever is?

[Krendler hangs up]

Mason Verger: Cocksucker!

---

[Verger is preparing to feed Lecter to a pack of wild boars]

Mason Verger: I suppose now you wish that you had fed the rest of me to the dogs.

Hannibal Lecter: No, Mason. I much prefer you the way you are.

---

Clarice Starling: I'll cut you loose. If you touch me, I'll shoot you.

Hannibal Lecter: Understood.

Clarice Starling: Do right, and you'll live through this.

Hannibal Lecter: Spoken like a true Protestant.

---

[Krendler comes home from shopping to find that someone is cooking in the kitchen]

Paul Krendler: What the fuck...

Hannibal Lecter: [walks in from behind] Good, you brought the wine.

Paul Krendler: Oh God-- [Lecter smothers him with a dish cloth]

---

[Lecter has lobotomized Krendler and is preparing to cook his brain]

Hannibal Lecter: Paul, would you like to say grace?

Paul Krendler: [in drugged, lobotomized stupor] God bless every one of us, even white trash like Starling.

Hannibal Lecter: I don't think the Apostle Paul could have put it any better. He hated women too.

---

Hannibal Lecter: I came half way around the world, to watch you run, Clarice. Let me run, eh?

[Clarice struggles against Lecter, he forces her against the refrigerator, opens the door and traps her hair, breaking away the handle]

Hannibal Lecter: Tell me, Clarice, would you ever say to me "stop, if you loved me, you'd stop"?

Clarice Starling: Not in a thousand years.

Hannibal Lecter: Not in a thousand years...

[Lecter lunges towards Clarice, baring his teeth; she does not flinch]

Hannibal Lecter: That's my girl.

[Lecter kisses Starling, but she does not respond. The click of closing handcuffs is heard. Lecter stops, pulls away and lifts his wrist. The two are joined by handcuffs]

Hannibal Lecter: Now, that's really interesting. But I'm rather pressed for time. Where's the key?

[Clarice does not react. He repeats the line, sounding less calm and more infuriated. Still she does not respond]

Hannibal Lecter: Okay...

[He takes a meat cleaver from the worktop and lays out her hand]

Hannibal Lecter: Above or below the wrist, Clarice?

[Clarice still refuses to respond as he raises the cleaver]

Hannibal Lecter: This is really going to hurt...

• Break The Silence
• Never Forget Who He Is
• How long can a man stay silent before he returns to what he does best?

"So, Does Art Imitate Life? Or, Does Life Imitate Art."^[2]

• Anthony Hopkins - Hannibal Lecter
• Julianne Moore - Clarice Starling
• Gary Oldman - Mason Verger
• Ray Liotta - Paul Krendler
• Giancarlo Giannini - Inspector Pazzi
• Francesca Neri - Allegra Pazzi
• Zeljko Ivanek - Dr. Cordell Doemling
• Frankie Faison - Barney

• Hannibal quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Hannibal at Rotten Tomatoes