Saltburn

SALTBURN (15)

D: Emerald Fennell

Amazon / MGM / LuckyChap / MRC / Lie Still (Emerald Fennell, Josey McNamara & Margot Robbie)

UK/US 🇬🇧🇺🇸 2023

131 mins

Drama/Thriller/Mystery

W: Emerald Fennell

DP: Linus Sandgren

Ed: Victoria Boydell

Mus: Anthony Willis

PD: Suzie Davies 

Cos: Sophie Canale

Barry Keoghan (Oliver Quick), Jacob Elordi (Felix Catton), Rosamund Pike (Lady Elspeth Catton), Richard E. Grant (Sir James Catton), Alison Oliver (Venetia Catton), Archie Madekwe (Farleigh Start), Carey Mulligan (Pamela)

The film that captured the attentions of many over the 2023 Christmas period wasn’t a festive family favourite or a whimsical adventure, but a black comedy with a sinister lead character whose behaviour borders on scandalous.

Barry Keoghan stars as Oliver Quick, a misfit Oxford University student who captures the sympathies of fellow student Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to spend the summer with his eccentric, aristocratic family at their home estate, Saltburn.

Oliver is seen as an outsider and an interloper by some of the family members, but the family matriarch, Lady Elspeth Catton, and Felix’s sister are quite taken by his charms, though Oliver seems to have homoerotic feelings for Felix himself.

Emerald Fennell’s follow up to Promising Young Woman does quite a magnificent job with its publicity campaign, as this film very much became a talking point with some of the scenes that really only exist simply to court controversy and don’t really do anything to propel the story or make any particular sense in the context of the film’s narrative, nevertheless, they’ll leave a lasting memorable impression for anyone who watches this film, which has quite a lot to merit, even if the story is found lacking.

The cinematography, production design, music score and performances are all excellent, especially Keoghan’s lead performance as a morally ambiguous, slightly menacing outsider.

Emerald Fennell also does a great job as director, though it’s her screenplay that doesn’t quite pinpoint what she’s trying to say about class & status.

I personally thought Saltburn was a very good film, but it’s probably the last choice I’d pick to watch with the family on Christmas Day.

7/10