So I stumble across Special Agent Starling and Dr. Lecter the other night and see the scene:
“A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.”
And then he makes that noise. And for the millionth time I ask myself, “What the hell is the point of that noise?” I haven’t got a clue. Can anybody shed a light on this little mystery?
(a) To emphasize how delicious it (or, er, “he”) was, (b) to reinforce the sense that Lecter’s got a usually-hidden animalistic side to him, and © to creep her (and by extension, the audience) the fuck out.
What I’ve never understood is why a cultured man like Dr. Lecter would mispronounce chianti.
Didn’t Anthony Hopkins ad-lib that moment(the slurping moment I mean)? I thought he was just supposed to deliver the line, but he went for that and really freaked out Jodie Foster.
I thought it was a deliberately mocking “redneck mispronunciation” as he says it with a little sneer and a different accent.
I believe elsewhere in the words preceding “chianti” he affects a midwestern US (?) lilt or twang very slightly as well. I agree it’s deliberate.
I also think the mouth thing might be in part a send-up of the wine-tasting aerate-it-all-over-my-mouth’s-inside thing, in addition to what’s already been mentioned above.
Just guesses.
Okay, I completely admit to being a rube, so can someone explain to me what the correct pronunciation is of chianti?
Key-AHN-tee. He pronounced it “key-ANN-ti.” And I assumed it was a poke at Starling’s “redneck” upbringing in West Virginia.
Lecter’s mocking tone would be like:
“Italian chianti” vs. “eye-talian key-ANNE-tey”
I thought it was “quantify”, not test. I might be remembering the book though.
I’ve always heard what Mahaloth says–that Hopkins improvised the noise to creep the f*ck out of Jodie Foster.
I used to think that his pronunciation of “chiAAAnti” was a Britishism–much like the pronunciation of “pasta” with a short “a” for the first syllable. But now I’m not sure, and considering his mock West Virginia accent in that same scene (“you think you can dissect me with this blunt tool?”), I concede it’s entirely possible that he was just making fun of Clarice’s modest background and trying to get a rise out of Foster.
Hm. I always assumed it was Hopkins going overboard on his American accent.
From the IMDB The Silence of the Lambs trivia page.
CMC fnord!
The noise was an exaggeration of slurping up drool at the though of eating human liver, I always thought.
Lecter also mispronounces (at 2:15) Duomo and Belvedere when he describes his painting to Starling.
He says Do-OH-mo instead of Dwoh-moh, and Bel-vah-DEER instead of Bel-vuh-DARE.
Incidentally, the killer happens to live in Belvedere, Ohio. The city name also happens to be pronounced Bel-vuh-deer.
Pretty cool fact that I read somewhere on the Dope. I don’t remember who mentioned it.
Are you joking?
I would love the irony if you are not.
You come up with a great piece of business and it so looks like someone affecting an unfamiliar drawl that even self confessed movie aficionados mistake it for poor acting by the actor rather than the character.
What test would a census taker give? 
Good catch.
I think this information was lifted fairly intact from the IMDB. If Jodie Foster said that, she could have meant that Hopkin’s, as Lecter, was mocking Clarice’s Southern accent. But if she felt personally attacked, maybe she thought that Hopkins was attacking her (Jodi Foster’s) fake Southern accent. The meaning is a little unclear.
Jeez, he really is Dr. Lecter. :eek: