In Jonathan Demme's 1991 thriller, The Silence of the Lambs, two psychiatrists figure prominently in the plot's action. Dr. Childrun, the sadistic director of a forensic hospital, is depicted as obnoxiously arrogant, insecure, and slimly, ambiguously sexual as he attempts to dominate the young heroine, Clarice Starling. Far from being an empathetic physician or even a competent doctor (only in the novel is it explained that he is not a physician or psychologist), Dr. Childrun is the quintessence of ruthless and vengeful ambition as he tortures his psychiatric patients by depriving them of their