sheisnobodysmeat:

The scenes between Lecter and Clarice are basically seduction scenes. They play, oddly enough, as if they were lovers. They only touch one time in the entire movie – in their last scene together when he says goodbye to her and hands her back her notes and touches her finger. And it’s almost a shock to the audience when they actually touch. With these scenes I think you approach exactly as if you were writing a sort of courtship between two lovers.

– Ted Tally (screenwriter), The Silence of the Lambs Criterion Edition commentary