The Facts:
Synopsis: 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 family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.
Stars: Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, Carey Mulligan
Director: Emerald Fennell
Rated: R
Running Length: 127 minutes
TMMM Score: (8/10)
Review: When a filmmaker makes their debut with such flash, as writer/director Emerald Fennell did back in 2020 with Promising Young Woman, there’s always a bit of bated breath holding as we wait for their next project to turn up. Winning a justified Oscar for her first film, Fennell didn’t leave audiences turning blue in the face for too long. She’s returned with the evocative thriller Saltburn, and while it doesn’t evoke the same kind of wicked satisfaction as her freshman feature did, it shows a filmmaker that isn’t content to rest on previous accolades, opting to push to limits further into territory that shines light into more dark corners.
What happened at Saltburn and with the wealthy Catton family? That’s what Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) is trying to explain to someone offscreen at the beginning of the film. To do that, we must go back to 2006 when Oliver started attending Oxford University and met classmate Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi, Priscilla). Initially seen as an outcast by Felix’s friends and cousin Farleigh (Archie Madekwe, Midsommar), Oliver is eventually taken under the wing of Felix after suffering a devastating loss and desperately needing a friend. As the year draws to a close, Felix invites Oliver to forget about a bad home situation and spend time with his family at their massive country estate, Saltburn.
Olivier isn’t the only guest that summer. In addition to Farleigh and Felix, there are Felix’s parents, Sir James (Richard E. Grant, The Lesson) and Lady Elsbeth (Rosamund Pike, I Care a Lot), sister Venetia (Alison Oliver), and Elsbeth’s friend Pamela (a kooky and wonderful Carey Mulligan, Maestro). Under the constant stare of butler Duncan (Paul Rhys, Napoleon), Oliver struggles at first to fit in, much like he did at Oxford, but soon finds the way to get closer to everyone is to be what they each individually need. In doing so, he begins to walk a fine line between fact and fiction, hiding his darker side that no one truly understands. Before the summer ends, family secrets are exposed, and bodies pile up…but at whose hand and for what reason?
In truth, the crux of Saltburn isn’t that hard to discern if you’ve ever watched a coming-of-age story of one kid having it all and another wanting it. Though set in England, the story of coveting is universal, so Fennell is on target in producing a film that speaks to an emotion we all have felt for our friends at one time or another. The depths to which Oliver and others go to achieve their dreams is another matter entirely, and that’s what takes Saltburn to another level past your rote trashy tale of obsession.
As was the case with Promising Young Woman, all roles in the film serve a purpose, and whether you are on screen for a short amount of time (Mulligan is a glorified cameo) or have an eyebrow-raising amount of screen exposure (good for you, Keoghan), there isn’t an actor that doesn’t rise to the challenge. Elordi is having a good year with this and Priscilla, and while his accent is better there than it was playing Elivs, the Australian still manages to skim the surface of where the role could have taken him. Madekwe and especially Oliver benefit from Fennell’s astute writing for a modern tongue, and Grant’s eccentric master of the house is daffy comic fun. Special mention to Rhys, whom Fennell trusts with conveying a lot by sheer presence alone, rarely with much dialogue.
The two names to discuss here are Pike and Keoghan, mainly because they often circle each other and, in a way, size the other up. Keoghan builds on his success in 2022’s The Banshees of Inisherin to become a true A-lister with his role in Saltburn. It’s an overused word, but fearless is the only one to describe his performance. He throws himself fully into it, and that’s why it works so well. Nothing less would have been seen as undeserving of Fennell’s intent to create such a tricky character. Then we have Pike, such a glorious actress, taking on another frosty female but still emanating warmth. Leaving the theater, I wasn’t sure what all the buzz was about her, but the longer the film stuck to my bones, the more her turn as a haunted lady of the manor followed me around.
Take the R rating of this movie with all seriousness. It’s a true feature for grown-ups, and I appreciated that Fennell and company treated the material with a darkly comic seriousness that continually upped the ante. Saltburn (the place and the movie) has an allure to it, and both trade on raw sexuality to entice others to take a look. Though it is formulaic in its bones, and the outcome is inevitable, this is a far more scenic journey in getting there than we’ve been treated to.