Saltburn (2023), by Emerald Fennell

THIS ARTICLE HAS SPOILERS

When a director has a hit and/or wins awards for their film, what follows is a lot of excitement and questions about their next work. Emerald Fennell, with her directing debut “Promising Young Woman” (2020), not only sparkled conversation about feminist topics but also won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar. It’s no wonder that her next work was so much awaited by the film fans. And it came in the form of “Saltburn”, a daring movie that might not be exactly a breath of fresh air in Hollywood, but it’s a conversation starter and maybe the start of a new trend for bolder LGBTQIA+ cinema.

It’s 2006 and Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) is the new kid in Oxford. He has a scholarship, buys clothes from thrift stores and is very quiet — these are the reasons why nobody wants to sit with him. One afternoon, he helps another student, Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who has got a flat tire in his bicycle.

Felix is the popular kid type and soon Oliver is hanging out with him. Oliver’s father dies suddenly in the middle of the school year and, after graduation, Oliver confides to Felix that he doesn’t want to go home during the break. Felix then invites Oliver to stay in his family’s country house, Saltburn.

In Saltburn Oliver gets to know Felix’s family: mother Elspeth (Rosamund Pike), father Sir James (Richard E. Grant) and sister Venetia (Alison Oliver, in her film debut). Also as guests there are fellow student Farleigh (Archie Madekwe) and Poor Dear Pamela (Carey Mulligan), who were both, although in different ways, kind of adopted by the Cattons. In Saltburn, they host wild parties and fancy dinners.

Felix’s family is weird, but Oliver has lied about his family. He said he is an only child and comes from a broken home, with a drunken mother and a father who dealt drugs before dying. When Felix takes Oliver, on Oliver’s birthday, to Oliver’s home, the lie is discovered and Felix says it’s better for Oliver to leave Saltburn. But Oliver will do anything to not let this happen.

Emerald Fennell is the director, writer and producer. Another producer is Margot Robbie, who also produced “Promising Young Woman”. Robbie has established the production company LuckyChap in 2016, having as partners her husband Tom Ackerley, Josey McNamara and her childhood friend and personal assistant Sophie Kerr. One big influence Margot Robbie had in “Saltburn” was regarding the marketing: she suggested that tiny teasers should be shown, adding curiosity to the mystery surrounding the film without telling much about characters and plot points.

Emerald Fennell cited, as influences to “Saltburn”, the novel “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë, “The Go-Between” by L.P. Hartley and “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier, as well as the poem “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning. For cinematic inspiration, she cited “A Clockwork Orange” (1971) and “Cruel Intentions” (1999). Furthermore, the director/writer/producer claimed:

“I drew from my own experience of being a human person, who has felt that thing we all feel at that time in our life which is that absolute insane grip of obsessive love…But obviously I didn’t quite go to the lengths that some of the people [in the film] do”

But the work of art more often linked to “Saltburn” has been the novel-turned-movies “The Talented Mr Ripley”, even though Emerald has tried to downplay the comparisons. In both there are leads obsessed with other characters, seeking their destruction and their wealth. With another adaptation of Ripley expected to release later in 2024, we’ll see if the comparisons continue or even if the success of “Saltburn” ignites the attention to the new Ripley.

Just like in “Promising Young Woman”, the art direction is something to behold. Many frames are just like paintings. The cinematography is by Linus Sandgren, from titles like “La La Land” and “Babylon”. The supervising art director is Caroline Barclay, who previously worked in “The Favourite” and five episodes of “Black Mirror”.

With “Saltburn”, Emerald Fennell reinforces her place in Hollywood as a true provocateur, just like two-time Cannes Palme D’Or winner Ruben Östlund. What will come next from Fennell’s twisted mind and which awards will she collect for it? We shall wait and see.