THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The scariest part of being too kind to everyone is that it can lead to letting the wrong one in, a consequence that blows when it's too late. I'm always cautious with the people I bring into my life and I'm reminded of it again through Saltburn.
PLOT
The film follows Oliver Quick who struggles to fit in as a University of Oxford student until he meets one of upper class named Felix Catton who is naturally popular to everyone around him. He gets his attention when sharing his past of his parents having alleged dark pasts of mental health/substance abuse issues. Felix would keep his distance until choosing to comfort Oliver over the apparent death of his father. When the spring semester reaches an end, he invites him to spend the summer at his family's country house, Saltburn. There, he appears to fit right in when getting along with Felix's sister Venetia, as well as his parents Sir James & Lady Elspeth. The only one he isn't on the same page with is his cousin Farleigh who he didn't get along with on Oxford either. One night, Oliver's fascination towards Felix is taken too far when he watches him masturbate in a bathtub, drink his semen-laced bathwater and later seduce Venetia while she's menstruating. Farleigh would catch him do the latter and tell Felix the next day. When he is confronted, Oliver denies it and later sexually threatens Farleigh to behave. The next day, the cousin would be kicked out of Saltburn when Sir James gets a report of Sotheby's with his intent to sell some of his valuables. After that incident, the Cattons want to plan a birthday party for Oliver before the summer ends. Before the party however, Felix would surprise him with a trip to see his mother. This would trouble Quick instantly as he had lying of his backstory and didn't want Felix to know until he does. He would find himself horrified seeing his father still alive and neither parents coping with substance abuse. After seeing how respectable people they actually are, he orders Oliver to leave Saltburn after the party, but chooses to spare his family the humiliation by not telling them what he found out. Quick would try to make amends with him during the party, but the young Catton would reject him throughout the night. By morning, Felix would be shockingly found dead in the middle of the country house's hedge maze. Oliver would choose to put the blame on Farleigh since he was at the party supplying drugs throughout the night. Elspeth would allow Oliver to stay long after the summer to cope with the shocking loss. As days go by, Venetia would blame him for her family disintegrating and calls him out for taking her brother's place as he starts wearing his clothes. The following day, she would be found dead with her wrists slit. Feeling despondent over back to back tragedies losing his only children, Sir James would bribe Oliver to leave Saltburn in order for him and Elspeth to properly grieve. The film would then jump to the 2020s, revealing James to have passed away at that point and Oliver would out of chance reunite with Elspeth at a cafe. She would be delighted to see him again and invites him back to Saltburn. Months after this reunion, she would quickly become terminally ill and bequeath all her assets to him. In her deathbed, Oliver would make an unexpected confession that he was responsible for all the tragedy that occurred last time he was at Saltburn: He was so obsessed with Felix's carefree lifestyle he chose to take it for himself. He pretended to be broke while in Oxford to make Felix pity him more than before, flattened his bike tire so that he had to let him borrow his, framed Farleigh for stealing, poisoned Felix at the party, supplied Venetia with the razor blades and staged his reunion with Elspeth to become the Catton's heir to the estate. After confessing of his plan, he covers his tracks by removing her ventilator which ultimately kills her. The film would end with Oliver dancing around Saltburn naked, celebrating that everything went according to his masterful plan. THOUGHTS
Everyone knew the name of Emerald Fennell due to her incredible theatric debut, Promising Young Woman, speaking so much volumes and gained deserving attention early on in the 2020s. She keeps the ball rolling with quality filmmaking in only her second go in the directors chair and tops herself in the process. This was another story that becomes more captivating when the pieces come together. The cinematography and production design has you distracted with the glamour, whereas Anthony Willis created an interesting score that set the mood there was more going on that what met our eyes. Overall, I was captivated with Fennell's way to tell us how we have to live with caution because you cannot anticipate seeing the desire of those you trust until they choose to show you firsthand. That is what I felt firsthand when witnessing heaven become hell for characters who were far from prepared for insanity that ended their lives for the worst. When you look at the Cattons, you're aware that they're not amazing individuals but they don't tend to be terrible towards those around him. Every time I see Richard E Grant & Rosamund Pike as James & Elspeth, you pick up on how they'll be caring people until you see them do the bare minimum in being just that. They open their arms when it came to Oliver, which you want to appreciate. At the same time however, they look at their friend, Poor Dear Pamela, whose incredibly played by Carey Mulligan, as an inconvenience for staying longer than she should've due to her own personal issues. When she gets confirmed to have died midway through the film, Elspeth doesn't give a second glance about it and just sticks withe the facts rather than dip the nose in. It shows they don't exactly care about those they invite, which is the ideal two face personality you would expect from wealthy individuals. Despite acting like that, they still have hearts towards one another, which is where you feel bad when their family falls apart. When Felix dies, they try to go about the day as the coroners arrive because there is nothing else to do, a relatable situation for people internationally. James was right to make Oliver leave originally because his presence wasn't gonna make things better. Had he went the extra mile by filing a restraining order to ensure he never came back. That wouldn't have mattered however because Elspeth enjoyed his company too much and would've undone that anyway. She invited him back because he was the last memory left of her children and wanted those memories to live on through somebody. Had she not been so unworldly through all the grief, her family's legacy would've been in safer hands. Farleigh was quite different amongst his cousins because Archie Madekwe made him quite mutable because he always remained the same whenever things took a turn. He was always uptight about things not going his way at home and took it out on Oliver because he was different. Little would he expect he made one terrible enemy. Venetia was interesting because Alison Oliver shows her to be one who may come off as narrow minded yet always did her best in keeping her guard up. She allowed to be intimate with Oliver at her most vulnerable because she was in awe to be near someone with no filter in comparison to other people she's been around. She did do the right thing in keeping her distance after her brother died, but it wasn't enough for her to heal her emotional stability that would lead to her own demise. Jacob Elordi was a whole other enigma as Felix because he's a natural people person and looking down on others wasn't in his genes at that point in his life. That alone defends why he connected with Oliver so quick the way he did, even though it's implied he's always brought school friends over for the summer before. From the lies alone, he does naturally care about him and wanted him to feel better, until the truth came out he lived a normal life. Had he done the right thing and put up with the humiliation by telling his family what he discovered, they all would've still been standing. Last but not least, it is through the presence of Oliver where we're reminded to be careful of who we let into our lives and now, I'm hesitant with the next person I choose to talk to. Barry Keoghan gives the performance of a lifetime for having us want to believe he's misunderstood for acting so strange, but every decision we get to see leading up to the twist proves how deranged he was all along. We also wanted to believe his decisions were done because he was in love with the idea of Felix until he admitted he actually hated him. It seems to me he felt this way because he couldn't stand how easy he lived life so easily whereas he had to earn his opportunities, Oxford in particular. Off of Felix alone, he felt that none of the Cattons deserved what they had and ultimately vowed to take it from them, which he succeeds in shocking fashion. When he collapses at Felix's grave and strips in what appeared to be grief stricken fashion, that was just him playing the long haul like a parasite would. Seeing him dance nude at the end was arguably captivating because you've never seen a villain celebrate success like so until now. In a way, you can call him the Thomas Ripley that has a plan and perfectly executes it, whereas the original character relies on improvisation until it backfires. We don't know what Oliver's going to do with all that money, but we know for sure he'll relish every moment he has with his newfound power. In short, Saltburn is one of 2023's best dramas for leaving you on edge until the pieces come together in unexpected ways. If you enjoys those kind of said dramas, see this now.
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