Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric...
Fresh off the success of (and Oscar win for) her 2020 debut feature film “Promising Young Woman,” writer/director Emerald Fennell carries the boundary-pushing themes of power, gender, sex, and class into her second film, “Saltburn.” She achieves a varying degree of success here, with her sophomore effort feeling more like a project that is more in love with its intent to shock rather than with creating a fully realized story. It’s one of the more memorable movies of the year, but the level of discomfort this modern gothic thriller creates is not for the weak of heart.
Set in England in the mid-200s, Oxford University student Oliver (Barry Keoghan) is struggling to find his place among his peers. He becomes obsessed with the handsome, popular, and wealthy student Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who is sympathetic towards his awkward classmate. After hearing stories about Oliver’s parents and their substance abuse issues, Felix invites him to come spend the summer at his eccentric family’s sprawling estate. There, Oliver meets Felix’s parents (Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant), his sister Venetia (Alison Oliver), and cousin Farleigh (Archie Madekwe), a backstabbing family that’s keen on gossiping about their friends and guests. As the family’s butler cryptically utters to Oliver as he sets foot in the massive home, “lots of people get lost in Saltburn,” and what happens during the young man’s stay will change the course of everyone’s lives forever.
The greatest achievement here belongs to the cast, who take a string of highly unlikable characters and make them interesting. I wanted to spend more time around these people, although they are all just awful in their own ways. It’s difficult to avoid spoilers, but there’s a power shift that makes Keogan’s provocative performance even more interesting and compelling, and he shows off an impressive range. While the actor has created a portfolio of extraordinary, unconventional choices in his career, this is arguably his most daring role to date, which is saying a lot. He’s also surrounded by a perfectly cast ensemble.
Fennell displays some bad habits when it comes to writing and directing, including being more focused on the soundtrack than her story and making a few directorial choices that standout as gimmicky visual stunts (like the red-lit luncheon scene). This is a great looking film, though, and Linus Sandgren‘s cinematography is a feast for the eyes (and of course the soundtrack of carefully chosen pop songs is a must-buy). It’s almost as if the elements that I want to criticize are also the exact things that make this movie so memorable.
Although this is only her second major project behind the camera, Fennell certainly has a thematic motif to which she’s drawn. While the story is sparse, her concept is not, and she captures the arrogance of this aristocratic family in a thoroughly uncomfortable thriller about desire, grief, sex, debauchery, and toxic obsession. The idea of being an outsider so desperately wanting in is given a violent, erotic twist that culminates in a series of shocking, boundary-pushing imagery that could be interpreted as a forced, artificial way to spark conversation. The whole film feels very sophomoric, which is probably appropriate for Fennell’s second feature film, and this is hopefully just a bump in the road that will lead to more maturity as a writer and director.
That being said, I really liked “Saltburn” quite a bit. It’s magnetic, if flawed.
