A Well-Calculated Under-the-Radar Assault
Review and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, but better options are on the horizon. (Note: Anything in bold blue below [some may look near purple] is a link to something more in the review.)
My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the same name)
Saltburn (Emerald Fennell, 2023) rated R 131 min.
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size;
activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
(Photos retain the film's 4x3 format; side black bars aren’t seen, just show what a widescreen format would be. Character on the left is Oliver, on the right Cousin Farleigh [couldn't find one of Felix].)
What Happens: 2006, a new class of students enters England’s Oxford U., including working-class Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) on a scholarship, intimidated by so very many wealthy, privileged classmates, with a clear understanding of this as he meets with a professor (Reese Shearsmith) who’s surprised but not all that impressed by the kid’s having read all 50 of the suggested books prior to the fall semester yet is accepting/near-differential to late-arriving Farleigh Start (Archie Madekwe), due to his mother being a woman the prof admired years ago from afar when they were both Oxford students (we later learn Farleigh’s a cousin of the Catton family, a major presence here, his Mom a sister of Sir James Catton [Richard E. Grant] who sent her away to America, has cut off her family funding). Oliver has his own admiration from afar for Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi)—rich, handsome, popular—but feels he has no opening to make contact, until one day as he’s bicycling to return some books he finds Felix on the trail with his bike hobbled by a flat tire, making him soon-to-be-late for an important appointment (seems to run in this family), so Oliver lends Felix his bike, leading to Felix inviting Oliver to join in with his crowd, even providing the excuse at a pub one night that Oliver dropped his wad of bills on the way to the bar to pay for a round for the group (just before Felix showed up with this sudden rescue, Oliver was mortified with no way to afford so many drinks).
As their friendship grows, Oliver tells Felix he has no useful home life as his parents are addicts, then he breaks the news his father’s just died, so Felix invites Oliver to spend the summer with him at the family estate, Saltburn. Upon arriving at this grand location with its monstrous mansion, Oliver’s welcomed by the entire extended family—Sir James, Lady Elspeth (Rosamund Pike), Felix’s sister Venetia (Alison Oliver), her friend Pamela (Carey Mulligan)—although cousin Farleigh’s there too, caustic as ever, barely hiding distain for the guest. As time goes on, seemingly-shy Oliver makes clear his obsession with Felix by seeing his friend masturbating in the bathtub, licking up some of the water afterward; later, he will make useful connections with other members of this group.
He praises Lady Elspeth’s beauty as a reason Venetia feels insecure, then seduces Venetia with oral sex in the garden one night despite her menstuation—Farleigh sees this, threatens Oliver with the revelation yet Oliver responses with a sexual advance on Farleigh at night, further demanding he keep the Oliver-Venetia incident a secret. Farleigh’s ousted the next day anyway when Sir James discovers the young man intended to sell some Catton valuables through a London auction house.
As summer’s end nears, James and Elspeth plan a huge birthday party for Oliver, even as Felix decides to surprise his friend with a trip to Oliver’s home in an attempt to reconcile him with his distant family. To Felix’s shock, Oliver’s Dad Jeff (Shaun Dooley) is very much alive, he and Mum Paula (Dorothy Atkinson) are quite decent folks with love for their intelligent son, so angry Felix tells Oliver he’s to leave Saltburn right after the party, with Oliver’s pleas about loving Felix to no avail. Instead, Oliver poisons Felix’s drink that night, killing him, then is asked by Elspeth to stay on. In one of the most convincing scenes for an R rating, Oliver goes at night to Felix’s fresh grave, prostrates himself on the dirt, gyrating, then takes off his clothes to either masturbate on the plot or simulate sex with the corpse (yet, when the film begins we find older Oliver saying he was never in love with Felix [despite earlier pleas to the contrary], later says he hated his supposed close friend). Oliver leaves the impression Felix died from drugs supplied by Farleigh so Sir James cuts him off completely, forbids his return to this family. Soon troubled Venetia is found dead in that noted bathtub, having slit her wrists (we learn that Oliver put the razor blades nearby so she’d easily find them). At this point, Sir James pays Oliver to leave, which he accepts. ⇒Forward to 2022: Oliver reads about Sir James’ death, has a chance encounter with Elspeth at a café where she invites him back to Saltburn; he accepts, then sometime later we find her in poor health with Oliver removing her breathing tube, killing her, as he knows she’s left the estate and the family fortune to him in her will. In the final scene, naked Oliver is dancing through his new home, with a flashback that shows him damaging Felix’s bicycle tire years ago, letting us know he had a carefully-calculated-plan to ingratiate himself with the Cattons (what he might have had to do with Sir James’ death, Elspeth’s illness we’re not shown, but he certainly could have been involved in their situations as well), eventually acquire all of their heritage as he apparently despised his own original station in life.⇐
So What? Maybe it’s tradition for upper-class-Brits to have country estates with odd names, as I now find Saltburn joining James Bond’s Skyfall (from the movie by that name; Sam Mendes, 2012). That’s not what intrigued me about this film, though; the more-compelling-attractions include my admiration for Fennell’s earlier Promising Young Woman (2020, Oscar win for her for Best Original Screenplay; 4-stars review in our January 28, 2021 posting) along with the presence of Pike and Mulligan (although the latter’s presence is brief here; I definitely wanted to see more of Mulligan after her marvelous work in Maestro [Bradley Cooper, 2023; review in our January 4, 2024 posting] but also was quite pleased with Elordi, who impressed me considerably more in the role of Felix than he did as Elvis Presley in Priscilla [Sofia Coppola, 2023; review in that same 1/4/2024 posting])—for that matter, I didn’t immediately remember seeing Keoghan, even though I’d watched him in Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan, 2017; review in our July 27, 2017 posting), The Green Knight (David Lowery, 2021; review in our November 4, 2021 posting), and The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022; review in our December 22, 2022 posting) and ultimately enjoyed him considerably more in this present role. Saltburn is a wicked film (some might say darkly-comic, others might be horrified at the casual-regard for human life evidenced by Oliver), exploring the worst aspects of class-privilege, class-obsession, but it’s all done with a discerning eye/attitude by the production team; those unsavory aspects are analyzed well in this short video (10:45; Spoilers [ad interrupts at 8:05]) with eloquent explorations of 2 dominant themes: insatiable desire & exploring the forbidden.
For a useful look at Fennell’s own commentary on her film, here’s her extended exploration (13:35 [ad interrupts at 8:20]) about the scene of Oliver’s arrival at Saltburn (including why she used the old, boxy 4x3 format rather than the usual widescreen of today, to be able to include both fabulous floors and ceilings in the same shots within Saltburn [filmed in an actual English mansion] implying the long tradition of wealth and assumed-social-standing of the Cattons, both in what’s shown of their fabulous residence and in the implication of these older images of how this family’s rooted in the past, even though Oliver longs to be part of such a heritage as well, by any mad means necessary).
A final bit of background material about this rather-nasty-film is presented in another video (13:15; Spoilers [ads interrupt at 2:55, 9:40]), offering additional insights about what we’re watching here. You certainly would have no reason to expect anything simple or even pleasant in Fennell’s screenplay/directorial work based on the gruesome situations (with an unexpected-yet-satisfying-twist at the end) in Promising Young Woman and the slowly-revealed-atrocious-nature of the protagonist in Saltburn, but, despite how disturbing these cinematic-situations become as the plots unfold, Fennell’s films are fascinating to watch, even as Saltburn becomes a bit too explicit as Oliver’s true nature is made manifest (although Keoghan effectively conveys his inherent sliminess—he was nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama, as was Pike for Best Supporting Actress, Motion Picture, for the recent Golden Globe Awards, but both of them lost [complete winners list as the first item in the SHORT TAKES section of this posting farther below]). I’m a bit ambivalent overall regarding this film as I was fascinated by much of it, surprised at how it evolved, but didn’t fully feel like it left me with a “Wow!” response, so maybe Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post can help me out: “The kinks and cosseted pleasures of the upper classes are on lurid display in ‘Saltburn,’ Emerald Fennell’s aristo-gothic sexual thriller set amid England’s toniest precincts, from Oxford to the titular estate. The rich aren’t like you, me or any other recognizable human being in this story that adds equal parts F. Scott Fitzgerald, Patricia Highsmith and Daphne du Maurier to the martini shaker and gives it a good tumble. If Fennell doesn’t quite stick the landing — if her story of striving, sexual obsession, class resentment and revenge ultimately feels puny and predictable — she certainly has fun getting there.” Yes, that’s what I meant! Thanks, Ann; you rock!
Bottom Line Final Comments: Saltburn had its domestic (U.S.-Canada) debut on November 17, 2023 (7 theaters, went wide to 1,566 on Nov. 22; to date, it’s made $11.4 million at the box-office, $20.4 million worldwide), but down to 65 venues so your best shot now is through streaming for Amazon Prime Video subscribers (or slip in for a month at $8.99, also helping yourself to the rest of their vast catalogue). Just as I’m not totally able to give a glowing recommendation for this film (though it’s quite entertaining overall, especially if you subscribe to the “eat the rich” mentality), so is the CCAL not enthusiastically supportive with the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews only at 71%, the Metacritic average score at an even-lower 61% (which puts all of them generally in line with my 3½ stars of 5) so I’ll leave it to you as to whether you'll pursue it or not, yet it’s unlikely to make my 2023 Top 10 as I already have a good number of 4 stars-rated-options to decide among for those honors (plus what’s sure to be my #1 given its rare 4½ stars from me, Killers of the Flower Moon [Martin Scorsese, 2023; review, November 9, 2023 posting; congratulations to Lily Gladstone for her Golden Globe win as Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama]) with a few others I hope to see in the next month or so to help round out my final choices.
For now, though, I’ll leave you with my usual review wrap-up tactic of a Musical Metaphor, this time being The Beatles’ “And Your Bird Can Sing” (on the 1966 UK version of Revolver, US Yesterday and Today albums) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g2eU9YGwWQ (this version has some minor, repetitive visuals added, but still more interesting to watch than just the Revolver cover for 2 minutes), even though the song’s originally about the singer distancing himself from someone (some say Frank Sinatra, with “bird” referring to his penis [!]; some say Beatles-Rolling Stones rival Mick Jagger and his girlfriend of the moment Marianne Faithful [a more appropriate surname for her than him] with “bird” mid-‘60s slang for “girl”; some oddly enough say Paul McCartney [?]), stating that no material goods or accomplishments by this other guy will lead to any remorse by the singer. Yet, when you think of this tune as being deviously-sung to the Cattons by Oliver you might agree he’d say “When your prized possessions / Start to weigh you down / Look in my direction / I’ll be round, I’ll be round,” even though, through his clever manipulations, he’d tell them—after the fact—that “You don’t get […] see […] hear me,” you fools, as he pulls the expensive wool over all of their eyes. It’s ultimately a mean story with no confirmed clue that we can believe anything superb-con-man-Oliver says, especially about loving Felix (or not), the foundation of whatever fascination this film may offer.
SHORT TAKES
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
Some cinematic-related-options for your consideration: (1) Winners of the 2024 Golden Globe Awards; (2) Golden Globe Awards broadcast is a flop; (3) 2024 Screen Actors Guild award nominations; (4) Jacob Elordi (Felix in Saltburn) will play Frankenstein's monster in Guillermo del Toro's upcoming adaptation of this famed story; (5) Imax has a big year in 2023, thanks partly to Oppenheimer; (6) National Society of Film Critics chooses Past Lives as 2023's best.
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