Description
A decade after tracking down serial killer Jame Gumb,[a] FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling is blamed for a botched drug raid which results in the deaths of five people. Starling is contacted by Mason Verger, the only surviving victim of the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter, who has been missing since escaping custody during the Gumb investigation. A wealthy child molester, Verger was paralyzed and disfigured by Lecter during a therapy session. He has been pursuing an elaborate scheme to capture, torture, and kill Lecter ever since. Using his wealth and political influence, Verger has Starling reassigned to Lecter's case, hoping her involvement will draw Lecter out.
After learning of Starling's disgrace, Lecter sends her a taunting letter. A perfume expert identifies a fragrance on the letter: skin cream with ingredients only available to a few shops in the world. She contacts the police departments of the cities where the shops are located, requesting surveillance tapes. In Florence, Chief Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi is investigating the disappearance of a library curator. Pazzi questions Lecter, who is masquerading as Dr. Fell, the assistant curator and caretaker.
Recognizing Dr. Fell in the surveillance tape, Pazzi accesses the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program database of wanted fugitives. He learns of Verger's US$3 million personal bounty on Lecter. Seeking the bounty, Pazzi ignores Starling's warnings and attempts to capture Lecter alone. He recruits a pickpocket to obtain Lecter's fingerprint to show Verger as proof. The pickpocket, mortally wounded by Lecter, manages to get the print and gives it to Pazzi. Lecter baits Pazzi into an isolated room of the Palazzo Vecchio, ties him up, disembowels him, and hangs him from the balcony.
Verger bribes Justice Department official Paul Krendler to accuse Starling of withholding a note from Lecter, leading to her suspension. Lecter lures Starling to Union Station. Verger's men, having trailed Starling, capture and bring Lecter to Verger. Verger intends to feed Lecter alive to a herd of wild boars bred for this purpose. After her superiors refuse to act, Starling infiltrates Verger's estate. After neutralizing two guards and freeing Lecter, she is shot by a third guard. Lecter picks up an unconscious Starling just before the boars break through the doors. Verger orders his physician Cordell Doemling to shoot Lecter; at Lecter's suggestion, Cordell shoves his hated boss into the pen with Lecter offering to take the blame. Lecter carries Starling away and the boars eat Verger alive.
Lecter takes Starling to Krendler's secluded lake house and treats her wound. When Krendler arrives, Lecter subdues and drugs him. Starling, disoriented by morphine and dressed in a cocktail dress, awakens to find Krendler seated at the table set for an elegant dinner. Weakened by the drugs, she watches in horror as Lecter opens Krendler's skull, removes part of his prefrontal cortex, sautés it, and feeds it to him. Starling tries to attack Lecter with a butter knife, but he overpowers and traps her. She handcuffs his wrist to hers. Hearing the police closing in, Lecter is about to sever her cuffed hand to escape and brings down the cleaver. Starling surrenders to the FBI with her hands intact.
On a flight, Lecter, who is now one-handed, prepares to eat a meal he has brought himself, while wearing his bandaged arm in a sling. Lecter shares Krendler's cooked brain with a curious boy who was watching him eat, saying it is important "always to try new things". As the unsuspecting boy eats, Lecter looks on with an expression of restrained delight.
