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The Silence of the Lambs Scene 11 Summary

  • Clarice returns to Lecter's asylum, where Chilton is furious she's been interviewing his patient and not giving his nosy little butt all the details.
  • She tells Chilton it's just a routine follow-up, but he won't let her through that easily.
  • She suggests he call the U.S. Attorney's office if he has a problem.
  • At Lecter's cell, she tells him that if he helps them catch Buffalo Bill and rescue Catherine Martin, they'll give him a transfer to a room with a view.
  • Bonus offer, for a limited time only, a one-week vacation to Plum Island. Clarice dumps the case file and offer into the drawer.
  • He says he'll only help her with a quid pro quo. He wants to know more about her.
  • She agrees, and he asks her what her worst memory of childhood is.
  • Clarice talks about the death of her father, a town marshal who was shot by burglars.
  • She was 10, and her mother had already died, leaving her alone.
  • Lecter asks if the victims were "large girl[s]" and Clarice says yes. And the girl from West Virginia had a bug in her throat.
  • Lecter asks if it was a butterfly.
  • Clarice says it was a moth, the same one they found in Benjamin Raspail's head.
  • Lecter says the moth represents change. Buffalo Bill wants to go through a transformation.
  • Before he'll say more, he wants more information about Clarice's personal life.
  • Clarice says she went to live with her mother's cousin on a ranch in Montana. She ran away after two months.
  • Lecter wants to know why, but Clarice wants more info from him first.
  • Buffalo Bill isn't a real transsexual, Lecter says, but he wants to be. He suggests Buffalo Bill may have applied for sex reassignment surgery, but been rejected.
  • As Lecter speaks about Buffalo Bill hating his own identity, Chilton listens in from a hidden microphone.