First, if I’ve explained this once I’ve explained it 25 times — lead protagonists are not allowed to suddenly wake up from a nightmare by sitting up wide-eyed and gasping. Jimmy Stewart‘s Scotty Ferguson did this 62 years ago in Vertigo, but it’s not permitted any more because it’s been DONE TO DEATH.

Second, Clarice Starling isn’t a celebrity — she’s just an FBI grunt who happened to play a key role in catching the infamous Buffalo Bill. News reports may have mentioned her role in the capture but she didn’t hire a publicist to hype her exploits because junior FBI agents don’t do that.

Third, it is therefore IDIOTIC for an older woman of authority to say to Starling, “You are a woman with a very public reputation…for hunting monsters.” No, she isn’t because she didn’t star in an Oscar-winning movie — she’s just a junior FBI agent who graduated from the FBI Academy a year or so ago. Nobody knows who she is — FBI agents don’t want publicity — they’re modest investigators and law enforcers.

The stupidity is staggering.