By now you’ve probably heard the chatter of what “Saltburn” has in store for its viewers. A sick and twisted tale of elite indulgence laying bare all of their misdeeds through an outsider who falls victim to its alluring nature. All the things you may have heard or implied are true; the film is certainly for the sickos, and watching these memorable and shocking moments in context add a whole new layer that internet spoilers simply can’t capture. And yet, for all its seduction, depravity, and shock, I am sad to report that I was not over the moon for it.
This is a shame, because it has been one of my most anticipated films of the year, one I was hoping would crack the top 10 and displace some others I’ve held onto all year. For all its glitz and glamour and hedonistic lifestyles of the rich and famous, it left me hollow and wanting more. It should leave you with a desire to analyze its themes, but instead leaves you confused about what those themes actually are. “Saltburn” is all style, no substance, in a film that aims to be a provocation of the latter and never quite gets there.
Written and directed by Oscar winner Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman“), “Saltburn” tells the story of Oliver Quick, a reserved young student at Oxford who is struggling to fit in and make friends. Through a chance encounter, Oliver is taken in by the very rich and very charming Felix Catton. Felix is the “it” kid of Oxford, the guy all the guys want to be and all the girls want to be with. After learning of Oliver’s troubled life, Felix decides to invite him to his castle Saltburn to spend the Summer with him and his family. Here we get a glimpse into the wild, quirky, seductive world of the wealthy. The kind of wealth even the rich don’t fully understand.
As Oliver begins to navigate this strange yet alluring place and work to become a part of the family, things slowly turn out to not be everything that they seem and the consequences of these discovering and actions will leave everyone at Saltburn with a summer they will never forget. The film stars Barry Keoghan as Oliver, Jacob Elordi as Felix, Rosamond Pike, Richard E. Grant, Carey Mulligan, Alison Oliver, and Archie Madekwe.
From a craft perspective, “Saltburn” is a near masterpiece. The cinematography and production design is absolutely stunning. Fennel invokes an atmosphere of voyeurism and bombastic indulgence, and we are never invited to join and only observe from afar. She has improved upon her previous work visually; packed with gorgeous lighting effects and unforgettable frames. The film is visual controlled chaos, and the choices Fennell makes to frame her characters and the halls of mansions are impeccable. She uses the single setting location to literally build an entire world around a small group of people inhabiting a literal palace, and through their nonchalant, quirky and elitist narcissism creates a fascinating world I never got tired of inhabiting. Particularly in first half of the film before the shit hits the fan, “Saltburn” is at its best as it seeks to set everything up and introduce us to its cast of colorful characters. Oliver’s first few weeks at Saltburn are the true highlights, and is where most of the film’s thematic and character driven ideas shine brightest.
We’ll talk about where it goes off the rails after this, but it also finds some strength in the wholly committed performance from Barry Keoghan. Keoghan approaches Oliver with complete abandoned, and absolutely sells the slow descent into madness that wealthy worlds like this can bring to those who just want a taste of the good life. “Saltburn” is powered by this commitment, and truthfully doesn’t work without Keoghan literally baring it all both physically and emotionally. He is so haunting and such a captivating presence, and clearly understood the assignment. Same goes for Pike, who is so unexpectedly funny and mean spirited under her politeness of royal pleasantry you really wish she was featured more. Her interactions with Mulligan are some of the funniest and most uncomfortable scenes in the film, and that’s saying a lot considering how far this film goes later. Everyone in the family are terrific here, and “Saltburn” works best when it is fleshing out all their strange, dark dynamics. They all of have secrets buried underneath their mountains of wealth and social class, and the more time we spend with them the more intriguing the film becomes.
Unfortunately, we take a drastic detour in the final hour, and “Saltburn” dissolves into itself as it tries to bring everything together. Fennell has a lot of great ideas that never come to fruition in ways that feel meaningful, struggling to rightfully critique classism in ways that feel unique instead of reductive under its wildly sick and twisted execution. When you strip away the shock value and gorgeous craft, it is a little more than the sum of its parts. Every new revelation undercuts previous ones, and in the end you’re left wondering what it all actually means. Of course, not everything NEEDS to mean something, but the film postures as if it does, and grandstands with the belief that it has something profound to say about a lot of things. So when it lands with a whimper and not with a bang, with ostentation instead evocation, you’re left wanting. as Fennell tries it imbue her characters with these themes and ideas, she completely loses sight of them and their motivations. The changes in Oliver are stark and sudden and so muddled by the end I felt like I didn’t know him at all. And that’s vastly different than shrouding your characters in mystery to deliver reveals later. I mean this film has a main character that is even less understood by the end than when we met him to begin with.
And that’s even if you can start to track the trajectory of “Saltburn’s” reveals. They never feel quite as shocking or twisting as Fennell intended, and because they have no real voice behind them, leave you feeling unsatisfied whether you figured it out early or not. For all its provocation, it fails to cohesively reconcile its shock with its purpose, leaving its characters in a limbo of confusion instead of nuanced complexity. It’s not that the ideas or overarching themes are missing completely, just that they’re never fully realized enough to justify its depravity. Providing examples of this would spoil the film, which despite my middling reaction would do the film an unwarranted disservice. It works best when its naughtiness is experienced in real time instead of approached with expectation or foreknowledge. And trust me when I tell you, there are some very, very, VERY naughty things that happen. It is not for the faint of heart, and if you’re planning to take the plunge you better get real cool with a lot of shit real quick.
I really did want to love this one, and there is a lot to like here. Keoghan is delightfully demented, Pyke is bitingly hilarious, Elordi oozes the kind of charisma that makes him a magnetic force people want to be around, and the supporting cast all clearly understood the assignment. It is gorgeously shot, with a plethora of frames that will be remembered for years to come. There is a genuine craft here, and Fennell absolutely knows her way around the camera. Even the more salacious moments work on the surface, but crumble when they’re forced to be thematically contextualized. They end up muddling motivations instead of informing them, and send the final hour of the film crashing down like a house of cards.
It did forever change how I listen to “Murder on the Dance Floor,” so I guess it did leave me with something unforgettable.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
“Saltburn” is now playing in theaters. You can watch the trailer below.
