Como eu me lembro do final do livro, Hannibal manteve Clarice mais ou menos continuamente drogada e eles vivem felizes para sempre.
A diferença é abordada na nota da AboutFilm sobre o final, em 12 parágrafos e uma sinopse da final do livro. Um extrato:
Admittedly, I haven't read it, but the novel's ending sounds just awful to me. And yet, it still sounds better than the movie's ending. At least the novel's ending explores the psyche of both characters. At least Starling asserts some power, as preposterous as her therapeutic techniques may sound.
Será que eles simplesmente não tiveram tempo para dar ao livro o final do tratamento completo que merecia ser totalmente explorado? Hannibal escapando ao pôr do sol é certamente mais fácil e rápido do que trabalhar e resolver seus problemas psicológicos, como mencionado na sinopse.
Conclui:
In the movie, Hannibal is Starling's self- appointed protector and is the same person from beginning to end. But he's not the same person he was in The Silence of the Lambs, nor is he the same person Harris portrays in his novel, in which Hannibal is not so much trying to protect Starling as he is trying to get her in his clutches. In the novel, as ludicrous as it may sound, we have a transformation and a resolution. That's something we have a right to expect at the end of a trilogy. However, in the movie, Hannibal just flies off into the sunset. He is still an enigma. We're just set up for another sequel, and perhaps another. Don't look now, but Hannibal IX: The Resurrection is just around the corner.
Uma postagem de Lectermate no Hannibal Lecter Studiolo diz:
In an interview, Ridley Scott said about the end of the book that it was too fast, that it should have been another book before we saw Hannibal and Clarice together.
Scott thinks that Hannibal is in love with Clarice but she rather feels some kind of respect for him, that's why he decided to do another end for his film.
Para o qual Clariz respondeu:
That is what he said in the interview, but in real life, there was a big ado, between TH [Thomas Harris, author], Dino/Martha [De Laurentiis/Schumacher, producers] and [director Ridley] Scott, whereupon TH didn't want to agree to the modified ending.
After they were locked for 5 days engaged in the argument. TH gave in, not without a feeling of disappointment.
What it odd here, is that the book was written with the foreknowledge that it will turn into a movie. When it was finished up and up until the production of the movie began it seemed clear that the book ending would prevail. Dino and Martha had approved it.
It always seemed as if they modified the ending to the movie with the idea of a sequel. Scott definitely had a sequel in mind. One wonders if he actually READ the book or just an abridgment.
There is no substantiation that might lead even remotely to believe that TH wrote the ending of the book to satisfy any fans. That would be soooooooo unlike TH...