#Film & TV Miscellaneous #Stellaine is not a simple woman, only ignorant people can be truly simple. Stillene's personality is complex, she is intellectually intelligent and ambitious, which Hannibal himself said, and she also knows how to handle interpersonal relationships quite smoothly. These qualities are one of the reasons why Hannibal likes her, Hannibal said that he hates rude and rude people, and "etiquette" and "restraint" are precisely the domestication of human anti-animal instincts. Simple people mostly follow their own nature and do not act outright, and Stayline is definitely not one of those people. On the contrary, she seems to be a little too restrained, causing this cold beauty to constantly leak fragile vulnerability under the strong appearance, adding a little bit of lovely beauty to her, but in addition to this, you can feel a heart that is cold and hot on the outside and the belief that it will not waver in a weak position.
Hannibal has always been a man with excellent mental control, and seems to have transcended all the limitations of human inferiority. He admired reason, intellect, and admired classical literature and music (remember the Gothenburg variations in the background when he was in his cage, Bach's music was recognized as the most rational), and presumably he loved the grandeur of classical tragedy more than the hedonistic beauty of earthly life. So Stellene was undoubtedly the archetype of his favorite: sane, strong, tidy, self-respecting, sensitive, and because of the shadow of childhood or her nature, she had a strong melancholy temperament and the lonely beauty of isolating people, and was slightly neurotic and could also please a psychiatrist. So Hannibal should have been impressed by her at first sight.
However, what ultimately prompted Hannibal to fall in love with Stetlin was undoubtedly the story of the "Screaming Lamb", which was so idealistic and symbolic that it had a certain allegorical color. That kind of compassion for mankind, the great love for human suffering, made Steyline exude a holy and martyred beauty, and also made Hannibal repeatedly explore and be deeply shocked by her story. Hannibal has always been steadfast in analyzing people's hearts, but Stillene is an exception. He had speculated that she might have been sexually abused by relatives or wanted to escape from a poor and barren childhood, etc., whatever trauma was ultimately limited to the specific unfortunate fate she had personally suffered. Self-harm due to bad luck is the universal nature of people, even if it is reasonable, it is still a little superficial, because it still cannot escape the scope of personal sorrow and loss, and the tragedy brought about by it is marked by a specific experience. And the truly profound tragedy should be a more pervasive, undepended on this appearance, based on the trembling of the source of life. It needs to put aside the abusive self-catharsis and resonate with a rational and simple soul.
So Steileen's story greatly surprised Hannibal, who saw other beings suffering, grieve for them, and give up everything to save them, a state that few people can achieve, exaggerated to say that there is a kind of christ's cross-bearing realization. So Hannibal would sigh infinitely softly, "Thank you, Starene," and I think the second half of his unspoken sentence would have been "Thank you, Stalyn, you have restored me a little bit of confidence in this creature of humanity." So "the world has become more interesting because of you." The only physical contact between the two in the film is the light touch of the index finger, reminiscent of Michelangelo's famous fresco "Genesis", god's finger pointing to Adam, since then God and human spirits have been connected, this passage may hint at the subtle transformation of Hannibal and Stetlin's relationship.
The dialogue between the two of them across the iron cage is my favorite part of the whole play, and the delicate performance and deep music are deeply moving. There was a lot of symbolic dialogue, and Stellene said that initially she wanted to release the lambs, but they "didn't know how to escape, they just stood there confused, unwilling to go." These lambs are so similar to the stupid world, even if they are given physical freedom, they are still prisoners of their own souls, saying that the strong save themselves, the saints cross people, but most of the mediocre people do not know how to escape the tragedy of life, and even sadly do not realize that they are in the midst of tragedy, with a fragile heart and wandering soul, constantly wandering outside the gates of heaven, constantly indulging in pain, constantly issuing dying screams in their hearts. And all this cruelty is covered up by a more grim silence between heaven and earth... As sung in "The Sound Of Silence", when silence becomes a sound that makes the world mistakenly think that everything is normal, how can we tear apart this layer of appearance and see that it is not a fiery hell execution ground? The pain of life and the weight of life will fall on everyone's head without bias, as Stillene said, "They are too heavy."
Did Stellene really hear the "scream" of the lamb as a child? I think the answer is probably no (movie only), it's a winter night, everyone is asleep, the butchers are supposed to haven't started yet, how can the hum of a few weak lambs be so loud that they wake up Starin in the house? Why can't others hear this sound? So this "scream" is likely to be an abstract image, a voice that exists only in Stellene's mind, and it is more like a nightmare after she becomes an adult, echoing again and again. This is the symbolism used in the film, and the title tells us that "the lamb has always been the most silent animal", and only in Stellene's eyes are constantly calling for help and struggling because of their suffering. This comes down to the fact that she has a different kind of sensitive heart for the world.
Several times more sensitive than ordinary people plus several times the compassion of ordinary people, Stillene is destined not to be a happy person. In Hannibal's sketch, she is dressed in white, holding a lamb, and her eyes seem gentle but exude a desolate and resolute power, which is quite similar to that of the Virgin.
In fact, if we talk about the topic of "strong" and "weak", how can each of us not be a "weak person" in the face of nature and fate? And the world itself may be the covetous eyes that Hannibal called it. People descend into the world with the original sin called desire, unconsciously falling on each other, forming an invisible and huge web, each of which is both a giver of evil deeds and a victim of evil deeds; both covetous voyeurism and frightened escape; both sinners and victims, there is no escape, there is no escape. Like poor bad boy Bill, like the man who looked at Stellan at the airport, like the dismissive cops, like you and me.
Perhaps, in Hannibal's eyes, human beings are all pathetic beings, struggling for their own interests, but they cannot escape the butcher's knife of fate, and will eventually be ruthlessly swallowed by life, like a stupid and frightened lamb to be slaughtered, ignorant and numb and pitiful. Hannibal can be said to have been looking down on mankind with a cold intellect, like a ruthless god, who does not know what man is, and who takes all things as dogs, and cannot change the tragedy of mankind, so he is indifferent. Until he met Stillene, a shepherd who, because of her natural sensitivity and insight into the tragedies of mankind, but wept and wanted to save even one lamb, this thin and weak girl who tried to carry all the suffering of the world on her shoulders. Two people have both similarities and complete opposites. Therefore, Hannibal's love for Stetlin is both a pity for each other and a guardian of the beautiful soul of a different person.
"Brave Clarice, if one day your lamb stops screaming, will you come and tell me?" If this world could one day become heaven, even a cold God would be a little moved, right?