Regarding Hannibal Lecter’s line, “Your bleeding has stopped.”

Submitted by amboy_connector t3_z6cras in movies

In The Silence of the Lambs, agent-in-training Clarice Starling made a second trip to Baltimore State Hospital to speak to Dr. Lecter after investigating his storage unit. While she was exiting the storage unit, she cut her hand. One of the first things Dr. Lecter said to Clarice during this meeting was, “Your bleeding has stopped.” Clarice looked briefly at her hand and said, “How did you - it’s nothing, a scratch” and quickly changed the subject.

I always assumed that Lecter in fact WAS talking about the scratch on her hand, but after watching the movie again recently, I wonder if he was pointedly referring to her period. If it was her hand, I would think he would have made a more direct statement, like “Tell me about your hand, Clarice” or even commented that he was still able to hurt people while in his cell.

Clarice’s reaction made me think that this possibility occurred to her as well (and that he was correct) and she changed the subject to keep him from going down that path, and out of shock from his being even more intuitive than she first realized.

It’s a pretty minute point, but did anyone else think that’s what he meant?

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Dove_of_Doom t1_iy0o6u8 wrote

>Hannibal Lecter: What did Miggs say to you? Multiple Miggs in the next cell. He hissed at you. What did he say?

>Clarice Starling: He said, "I can smell your cunt."

>Hannibal Lecter: I see. I myself cannot.

I don't see how else Lecter could possibly know such a thing.

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North-Technician t1_iy1dgxk wrote

Immediately after the statement, "I cannot," he sniffed the air and said, "You use Evian skin cream, and sometimes you wear L'Air du Temps, …but not today." This is to imply that he is that perceptive and can accurately detect scents. This is meant to unsettle her. So it is very possible he could tell the difference between fresh and coagulated blood. Or it could be a reference to her menstruation. I think it is intentionally left vague to show that, despite his confinement, she is vulnerable to him.

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SchopenhauersSon t1_iy0osfi wrote

Hannibal is also a liar...

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Dove_of_Doom t1_iy0q8p7 wrote

He never lied to her in Silence. With the exception of Barney, Clarice is the only person Lecter is always straight with.

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NoHandBananaNo t1_iy0wqb9 wrote

It has nothing to do with vaginas when women smell different when they're on their period.

It's subtle differences in their breath/taste of their mouth and their skin. It's not always noticeable, and it's usually something only an intimate partner would ever pick up on.

I think u/amboy_connector is right, I've always assumed it had two meanings and Lecter deliberately left it ambiguous.

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amboy_connector OP t1_iy0okf3 wrote

I thought about that exchange as well, but still wondered, since so much of his character is based on picking up subtle clues from human behavior.

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Dove_of_Doom t1_iy0qm05 wrote

It seems out of nowhere for Lecter to make a period joke at Clarice's expense. He likes her. He isn't exactly kind to her, but he is civil.

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couscousmingeminge t1_iy23bpp wrote

Yes and no. Lecter likes her, yes, but he is also nothing if not true to himself. He's a manipulator. To truly manipulate someone, you keep yourself unpredictable and arbitrary when it comes to being kind and being scary. It's a well-known tactic of abusers and manipulators. Show someone kindness and cordiality, then suddenly shift to anger or intimidation. It prevents them from getting truly comfortable around you and they also subconsciously crave your kind and cordial side again, thus making them more susceptible to wanting to please you.

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amboy_connector OP t1_iy0vhog wrote

Yes, he was always civil, but he had no problem making her feel squeamish - he didn’t repeat Miggs’ utterance of “c*nt”, but still referred to it. He also countered Clarice’s “…sounds like something Miggs would say”, with “not anymore”, which obviously shook Clarice. And IF he was referring to Clarice’s period with his comment, it was with a “civil” euphemism as opposed to something vulgar.

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AssociateTricky8248 t1_iy1av8d wrote

She cut her leg. Which he couldn't see. However, he could smell the fresh blood until it faded away as she stopped bleeding.

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IMO4444 t1_iy1k90r wrote

I always thought it was meant to show Hannibal’s incredible observation skills and attention to detail. The cut was barely visible but he saw it.

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Other-Marketing-6167 t1_iy1jb1z wrote

Yeah I think that’s the answer. It’s to show how no matter how long he’s incarcerated, he will always have a thirst for blood.

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spygentlemen t1_iy10srn wrote

Lecters got superhuman abilities in the book. Amazing sense of smell, power over animals among other things. The bleeding he was referring too was her cut and nothing else I'm assuming.

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Youthsonic t1_iy2wt1h wrote

And he murders miggs for being "rude". Lecter calling out Starling's period is super out of character

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Shesalabmix t1_iy0qypg wrote

Eh maybe both.

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amboy_connector OP t1_iy0s9eo wrote

Yep, maybe that was the point.

Edit: I was called out for calling my own post pointless- I was actually acknowledging the possibility that maybe he was referring to both, which I hadn’t considered.

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Shesalabmix t1_iy0wb0k wrote

Maybe. I am only just now realizing that maybe it was a callback to the Minks thing.

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cefriano t1_iy23pkz wrote

Maybe what he actually said was, "Your bleating has stopped." In other words, the lamb has gone silent.

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Funny_Science_9377 t1_iy16s99 wrote

As is stated about Hannibal elsewhere in the movie: He would consider that rude.

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SweetPrism t1_iy27znc wrote

I always thought he meant, "Your bleating has stopped " referencing hearing lambs screaming (the silence of the lambs). This was because she was no longer fearful the way she was upon their first meeting.

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sabres_guy t1_iy4kl69 wrote

If I'm not mistaken, Lecter has a extraordinary sense of smell. The man loves blood and knows a lot about it which would include knowing it's smell much more than the average person. So he most likely simply could smell it and is just part of the joys of talking with the man

You know, just Lecter being Lecter. Always playing games and and that is just part of it. He straddles the line of messing with Clarice and simple conversation from sentence to sentence.

He was most likely not telling the truth about the "what did Miggs say to you?" bit too. Probably thought it rude to say "me too." Would be kind of jarring.

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Aggravating-Barber89 t1_iy0u6px wrote

I've never understood how Lecter got Chilton's gold pen. He was completely restrained by that point. Is the implication that Lecter can move objects with his mind?

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HEHEHO2022 t1_iy15byq wrote

chilton left the pen by accident , no big mystery

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Aggravating-Barber89 t1_iy1a2cg wrote

I know that but how did Hannibal get the pen into his hands and use it to escape when he was already restrained?

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HEHEHO2022 t1_iy1hix3 wrote

it was left in his cell. so when he was let out of his restraints took apart the pen and used it later on to escape

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Aggravating-Barber89 t1_iy5dl86 wrote

I know it was left in his cell. It was left in his cell after he was already restrained for travel and taken out of his cell. He was not released from his restraints with the pen in his cell.

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Archamasse t1_iy1dhx3 wrote

They mentioned this bit in the commentary, and it was the first time I ever noticed it. Iirc, they admit they bullshitted a little and hoped people wouldn't care.

I thought that was fascinating, because it worked so well on me - it's such a blatant plot hole, in the true, non CinemaSins bullshit sense, but the movie's so engaging it hardly matters.

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Aggravating-Barber89 t1_iy5dur5 wrote

Oh, thanks for that. Right, it's not terribly distracting and lends a little supernatural element to Lecter.

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[deleted] t1_iy18gn2 wrote

[deleted]

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couscousmingeminge t1_iy23lid wrote

I don't think Barney would do that. He knows how dangerous Lecter is. That's why he's so polite to him. He would have known that giving Lecter any means to escape is as good as killing someone yourself.

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