Horse statues & paintings at Mason's estate. Lots of them
Crystal everywhere
Purple lilacs?
In the book, Clarice cannot see her reflection while in the van. In the movie she is sleeping.
The van is labelled "Ashoka Authentic Indian Cuisine". Ashoka was an Indian Emperor from the 3rd Century BC. The symbol of his reign was the wheel. Myth has it that there was once a great battle. As Ashoka was admiring the bloody aftermath a beggar came to him with a bundle in his arms. The beggar said, "Mighty King, you are able to take so many lives, surely you can give back one life - to this dead child." Ashoka devoted himself to peace thereafter.
There is garlic hanging in the fish market, to ward away the evil spirits.
Evelda is wearing zebra shoes.
Evelda's hair is in long ropey braids.
Mason's hair is long and curly.
There is an eagle statue in the FBI briefing room.
Krendler says to Starling that maybe she is incapable of being happy. Pazzi's wife's name, Allegra, means cheerful, bright, happy.
"Show me how you smile to gain the confidence of a child."
There are stags and pigs on the tapestry at Mason's house.
"Did you develop a rapport with him? I did when I was peeling."
"Always through the glass."
Karen Phlox rather that Cary Phlox
Some things are draped in Barney's house.
There's a small pig on Barney's bookcase.
Hannibal smokes - not likely for someone who values his sense of smell.
There are feathers on the desk when Hannibal writes to Clarice. The letter is sealed with wax.
Many busts & statues in the Palazzo Capponi - same as in Mason's place.
The hand cream is made from an ambergris base (the "amputated hand" in the whale or Cetus), Tennessee lavender (Memphis was where Clarice and Hannibal last spoke), and fleece (for the lambs)
There is a shot of a picture of Hannibal in Clarice's dungeon where there's a crease or something that makes Hannibal's left eye similar to Mason's right.
One of the pictures of Hannibal's victims is posed like Botticelli's Venus in The Birth of Venus - just like Il Mostro's victims.
The fan in Clarice's dungeon is not on.
She is surrounded by a chain link fence.
There are 4 priests on the stairs near the Palazzo Capponi that come down on cue.
Hannibal takes Pazzi's picture.
There are lilies in the Palazzo. In the book, Hannibal kills Pazzi in the Sala dei Gigli, the room of the lilies.
"They just make sure you don't advance in life."
There is a violin in the P. Capponi.
Gnocco washes his hands in a fountain. Pazzi washes his hands in a fountain.
Hannibal is chewing as Gnocco is chasing him. In the book, Hannibal mentions chewing in Dante.
Hannibal tosses his newspaper aside right before Gnocco hits him.
Mason watches a horse race.
Pazzi says to Clarice that he "is late for an important lect... uh, appointment."
Carlo sucks on a tooth or claw? (There are stags in Mason's house.)
Hannibal whistles Rock-a-Bye-Baby before he hangs Pazzi.
Lighted starburst pattern on Mason's headboard.
Snowball-like flowers with Mason in the mask.
There is a statue of a griffon in Mason's house.
Lots of urns.
Card Mason made up to get Clarice in trouble looks like a Blake painting. Hannibal's drawing resembles Urizen with Clarice.
There is a bell tolling when Clarice gets suspended.
There are brains and hands in jars at the hospital.
Lots of candles
"You have shapely feet."
"The husband and children you gave up to [the FBI]."
Statues at Union Station.
Things going round and round at Union Station
Lecter's weird reflection.
Always misty at the Verger estate
Light in Hannibal's mouth
Bike helmets and hats by the door to Krendler's lake house.
"This won't hurt a bit."
Krendler develops a rapport with Hannibal as he's getting his skull opened.
Clarice plans to brain Hannibal with a snowglobe.
"Never in a thousand years."
MORE: (3/17/01)
The screen is black, then there's a small point of light that grows to fill the screen.
There's a big globe in Mason's house and another one in the Palazzo Vecchio where Hannibal kills Pazzi.
There's a scale at the Fish Market.
Teacups on the FBI table.
There is a clock behind Lecter in the scene where Mason peels.
Lots of lamps and candles at Barney's.
There's a mirror at Barney's.
Two lemons at the Palazzo Capponi.
Sunglasses - Hannibal, Mason, Clarice, Pazzi.
Beatrice pulls a red scarf from Dante and wraps it around her waist.
Hannibal is holding a pair of glasses while he sprays the cloth to incapacitate Pazzi.
It sounded as if the Studiolo had set the 14th for the lecture date but the date on the video of Pazzi's hanging says May 10.
Is that a bottle of Chateau d'Yquem that Cordell pours from?
Mason's speech sometimes pauses as if he is on the respirator.
A bell tolls 6 times while Clarice gets suspended.
Sunglasses at Union Station.
There's an odd pattern of blood splatters on Clarice after she is shot.
MORE: April 8, 2001
During the opening credits time moves forward and backward.
There are stars around the figure on the Ashoka Authentic Indian Cuisine van.
Lemons in a pitcher at the Fish Market.
There is a dining table in Mason's room.
Gray Line trolley outside FBI HQ.
Sound of a fly (?) buzzing outside Mason's estate.
Microscope in Clarice's dungeon.
While examining Hannibal's letter, there is an image of his first letter to Clarice on the monitor. "Have the lambs stopped screaming?"
There is a star chart on the wall at the Questura.
Pazzi takes the video intended for Starling of the perfume shop. The date on the package is 14/4/00.
The phone numbers are: 1-212-555-0118 & 00 412 3317
Krendler says "fifedom".
Ticking clocks.
Hannibal says he found an excellent "rendering" of Francesco Pazzi's hanging.
Pazzi swings like a pendulum.
Shadows and grainy indistinct images.
Mason has IV bags. Hannibal has IV bags.
The Blake postcard is The Ghost of a Flea, a depiction of bloodthirstiness
There is a kind of flower known as the 'Miss Karen Phlox'. It is dark pink with a red eye. (Phlox = flocks?) The word phlox comes from the Greek word for flame.
On the FBI's website, the data on Hannibal includes:
-
Date of birth: c.1938
Date of birth used: January 30, 1938
Place of birth: Unknown
Place of birth used: Lithuania
The birthday used would give Hannibal the sun sign of Aquarius.
Ridley Scott said his intention with the scene where Hannibal drives Clarice to Krendler's house was to make it look like it was underwater.
Scott also said that, although it wasn't filmed, he imagined Hannibal getting away from Krendler's house on a bicycle. Krendler rides a bicycle and there's a whole rack full of them outside the "Palazzo Capponi." (While the interiors were indeed shot at the Palazzo Capponi, the exterior were filmed at the Ospedale degli Innocenti which is an orphanage.)
The scar over the left eye on Mason's forehead reminds me of the scar on Hannibal's forehead.
There is a deer head on the wall behind Hannibal when he says to Clarice, "Love the dress. It's beautiful." Clarice is associated with deer. [Thanks Steven]
Regarding Hannibal smoking in the scene with Pazzi in the Palazzo Vecchio, where I said smoking wasn't likely for someone who values his sense of smell, Kamuela Kaneshiro writes, "But it IS likely for someone hiding a scent, which is what I got from the scene in seeing the movie the first time. Also the smoke would add to the ambiance of the scene, as well as something to the Hades in the underworld, with smoke rising around him." Quite. This is the only scene where Hannibal smokes. I believe it is deliberate. Anthony Hopkins himself does NOT smoke. He doesn't appear to be inhaling either. He eventually leaves the cigarette on the table and we view the rest of the scene through the smoke.
Mason has a monocle. It's attached to his wheelchair. He wears the thing in the scene where they are analyzing the fingerprint from the bracelet and Mason says, "Bingo." You can see it just hanging there in several other scenes. [Thanks Steven]
There's a Gladiator poster on the wall when Hannibal gets up from the table right before Gnocco starts chasing him. [Thanks again Steven]
Speaking of posters, when Pazzi is at the pay phone there is an advertisement for Ahava. Ahava is a brand of skin cream and the name means "Love" in Hebrew.
When Mason is telling the story of how he peeled off his face, in the flashback, at the top of the stairs, there is an odd, winged object suspended from the ceiling and it is moving. There are also several masks in Mason's house and he wears one at one point.
On two separate occasions, when Pazzi is on the Ponte Vecchio and when he is on the banks of the Arno, we see racing shells which are also called sculls.
From Liliana Garcia:
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When Krendler goes to see Clarice down in the basement in "Hannibal's House", she has her feet up on the desk and looks quite at home.
In the deleted scene, "Coming to America", Hannibal is sleeping on the airplane. We see a ring on the little finger of his left hand. His right hand is propped up behind his head - protected.
In the deleted scene, "Lecter Leaves Florence", Hannibal looks in a shop window where hangs a violin. In the background, there appears to be a viola da gamba. He's probably thinking of Clarice now. The shape of these instruments suggests a woman's body.
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Fans and pigeons are favorite images of Ridley Scott. The most blatant use of both was in Blade Runner, where the latter was a visual cue for Roy's attaining a soul.
ADDED: June 8, 2002
Barney wears two rings. On the thumb of his right hand, he wears a gold band, like a wedding ring. On the ring finger of his left hand, he wears a ring with a black stone. But he does not appear to be wearing any rings at all in the video when he breaks Lecter's arm.
Regarding the lilacs in the scene at the beginning in Mason Verger's estate, Harris also mentions lilacs in Chapter 9: "The new-mown lawns of Muskrat Farm, the riot of its lilacs in the wind, smell nothing at all like the stockyard."
In the book, the Verger estate is in Maryland, the film locates it in Asheville, NC. Ashes to ashes.
When Hannibal tells Pazzi that he is considering eating Pazzi's wife, there is a fly near his head. There is also a fly buzzing around Hannibal's head in SOTL when he tells Clarice he's having an old friend for dinner. [Thanks Stephanie Simmons]
In the movie, Hannibal adds a sketch to his letter to Clarice. Here it is:
The woman is clearly Clarice (Julianne Moore), but the old man on the left is a bit of a puzzle. To me, he looks like Blake's Urizen (below), the god of repression. The way Hannibal has drawn him, though, with the regular lines curving round his chest and the bony shoulders gives him a somewhat skeletal appearance while Clarice seems to be considerably more robust than Ms. Moore.
Michael Boyle sent this in:
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1. Pazzi washing his hands seems to be linked to Starling washing off
the
baby. Both scenes focus on the blood/water mixture. Cf. the
Crucifixion,
where blood and water flow together out of Christ's side when he is
pierced
with the spear. Cf. Lecter's mention of Duccio and Crucifixtion scenes
in
SOTL.
2. Correction to the smoking observation: The Palazzo scene is at least the second time Lecter smokes. The first is at the very end of the face-peeling sequence.
3. The letter as read differs from the one shown. There is a part skipped about a hawk with one wing hanging down, referring presumably to the previous sentence in which Lecter mocks Clarice's work at the FBI. Also the letter says "fairly accurate" instead of "accurate."
