Saltburn (2023)
Saltburn is one of those movies that’s entertaining in the moment, but unravels the more you think about it. Writer-director Emerald Fennell has crafted a film that keeps us curious to see where it’s going, bolstered by a strong cast, numerous plot twists, and some memorably bizarre moments. But after taking its time for the first two acts, the film falls apart in its final act rushing through story turns that become increasingly implausible due to the hurried pace and sloppy writing. These pacing issues result in a movie that, while interesting, squanders much of its potential due to its failure to stick the landing.
The bulk of the film is set in 2006, when introverted, awkward Oxford student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) befriends the handsome, wealthy, and popular Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). If you’re familiar with the “Virgin vs. Chad” meme, the central friendship in Saltburn brings together an archetypal Virgin and Chad.
Oliver is looked down upon by fellow students at Oxford due to his lack of upper-class manners. He describes a poor upbringing at the hands of a mentally ill mother and alcoholic father. When Oliver announces that his father has died, Felix invites him to spend the summer living with his eccentric, aristocratic family at their sprawling country estate, Saltburn. The Cattons — who include Felix’s sister Venetia (Alison Oliver), father Sir James (Richard E. Grant), and mother Lady Elspeth (Rosamund Pike) — prove fond of Oliver, though Felix’s cousin Farleigh Start (Archie Madekwe) does not. As time passes, it becomes apparent Oliver is not quite what he seems.
From the opening lines of the film, Oliver makes it clear he loves Felix. During their time at Oxford, we get signs that Oliver’s relationship to Felix is obsessive and creepy, such as when he stands outside Felix’s window watching him have sex with a woman. The full depth of his homoerotic obsession is revealed once the film moves to Saltburn, starting with a scene involving Felix’s bathwater that is probably the most talked-about moment in the film. It’s shocking and grotesquely humorous, as are scenes when Felix makes sexual advances on other members of the Catton family. Certainly these are scenes that audience members won’t soon forget.
The turning point comes when we finally see a glimpse of Oliver’s family life. From there, plot developments begin to accelerate. The manner in which Fennell wraps up the story is its most significant weakness, and impossible to discuss without going into spoilers. You have been warned.
Spoilers ahead.
When Felix discovers the truth about Oliver’s family, it irrevocably alters their relationship. He realizes that Oliver is a liar; that the entire basis of their friendship and Felix’s invitation to live at Saltburn are based on falsehoods. Felix rejects Oliver, at which point Oliver takes the view of many obsessive stalkers: “If I can’t have him, no one will.” Oliver is found dead in Saltburn’s hedge maze the morning after the two had a confrontation at Oliver’s birthday party. Other members of the Catton family wind up dead in succession. Venetia appears to commit suicide in her bathtub. The film jumps forward to 2022. Oliver reads about the death of Sir James in the newspaper. Lady Elspeth then runs across Oliver in a café, apparently through pure coincidence. She invites Oliver to return to live with her at Saltburn, and after several months develops a terminal illness. Elspeth bequeaths all her assets, including Saltburn, to Oliver, who then kills her by removing her breathing tube.
The plot of Saltburn hinges on the plausibility of Felix and the rest of the Catton family becoming emotionally attached to Oliver. I was willing to accept this for the friendship between Oliver and Felix, even as Oliver at Oxford comes across as fairly awkward, quiet, and uncharismatic. The two become friends after Felix’s bike gets a flat tire and Oliver offers him his own bike to ride (it’s later revealed Oliver planned this by sticking pins in Felix’s bike tire). Rich people who are accustomed to getting everything they want, such as Felix, often express boredom. It’s believable that Felix would invite Oliver to spend the summer at Saltburn after hearing that the latter’s father had died.
I can believe that Oliver would be able to seduce Venetia and Farleigh, as he proves to have more charisma, allure, and confidence than is at first evident. I can buy that Sir James and Lady Elspeth would take a shine to him, if only because again, these are bored rich people who might be attracted by any novelty. The means by which Oliver kills Felix depends on Felix drinking from the bottle of booze that Oliver has poisoned, but alright, I can go along with it.
It’s with the death of Venetia that plausibility goes off the rails. We’re meant to believe Oliver facilitated Venetia’s suicide by leaving razor blades on the side of the bathtub, knowing she was drunk and distraught after Felix’s death. Does Venetia have no life outside of her relationship with Felix? Would she kill herself at the very moment her family is grieving the loss of her brother, further compounding the tragedy? Drunk or not, would she not find it suspicious to suddenly finds razor blades on the side of the bathtub?
Then there’s the death of James, which takes place a full 16 years after Oliver left Saltburn. Oliver declares at the end that he hated all of the Cattons, envying their wealthy lifestyle, and planned to kill them all and take over Saltburn. Was his plan to wait for James to die of natural causes? That seems the most likely cause, since we’re never told the reasons for James’s death. Apparently Oliver planned for Elspeth to come across him at the café after James died, but it’s unclear how he could have orchestrated this. Maybe I missed something. Elspeth inviting Oliver to live with her at Saltburn also seems like pure luck on his part. The two characters have only shared a few scenes of dialogue together, one of which involves Oliver blatantly hitting on Elspeth. Is that really enough for Elspeth to invite Oliver to live with her and bequeath all her assets to him?
Moreover, what was the nature of their relationship like during the several months they lived together at Saltburn? Did Oliver play a role in Elspeth developing an unidentified terminal illness? It seems quite a coincidence that Elspeth becomes sick after Oliver moves in with her. He ends up directly killing her anyway by removing her breathing tube, I guess because he just couldn’t wait for her to die on her own. Or because Fennell wanted a more impactful visual flourish to finish her movie — not including Oliver dancing nude around Saltburn as the unsubtle song choice of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dance Floor” plays on the soundtrack.
Despite these plot holes, Saltburn is still enjoyable as a trashy pulp flick. The cast is good, despite some leaden dialogue; the cinematography is effective, and the plot is undeniably compelling as the true nature of Oliver’s character is revealed. But in the end the movie only holds together if you turn your brain off, which is ironic given a script that thinks it’s more clever than it is.
6/10
