Which 1991 thriller about Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter won Best Picture?

The 1991 thriller about Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter that won Best Picture is The Silence of the Lambs.

Directed by Jonathan Demme and adapted from Thomas Harris’s 1988 novel, the film follows FBI trainee Clarice Starling, played by Jodie Foster, as she seeks help from the imprisoned psychiatrist and serial killer Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins. Their tense conversations help Starling pursue the murderer known as Buffalo Bill.

At the 64th Academy Awards, the film won the five major Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It became only the third film to achieve that sweep, after It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It remains the only horror film to win Best Picture.

A common mix-up is treating Lecter as the film’s sole protagonist; the story is primarily Starling’s investigation and psychological ordeal. The film was released on February 14, 1991, and became a major commercial success despite its dark subject matter.