- Directed by Emerald Fennell
- Written by Emerald Fennell
- Stars Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamunde Pike, Richard E. Grant
- Run Time: 2 Hours, 11 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lALMdJf6UUE
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is at least parallel to horror, a psychological drama thriller with some dark humor to it. The acting is stellar, the story is interesting, and it pulls you along, wondering how things are going to unfold. Barry Keoghan, in his 30s, is pushing it to play a young college student, but he’s skillful enough in the role for it to be forgivable. We really enjoyed it.
Synopsis
Oliver walks to school as credits roll. The sign says, “Welcome class of 2006,” and it all looks very British. He and Michael appear to be the only working-class students in the place, and Michael seems a little unbalanced. The professor is surprised to find that Oliver has read the whole fifty-book reading list for the summer. Farleigh is there for tutoring as well. Oliver’s very introverted and doesn’t really catch on with everyone else.
Oliver runs into Felix, whose bicycle has a flat tire. Oliver loans him his bicycle, which Felix really appreciates. Oliver instantly develops a crush on Felix. Felix starts including Oliver in his friend group, which Oliver really appreciates. Farleigh, on the other hand, doesn’t like Oliver much. Oliver mentions that his parents have mental health and addiction problems, and Felix is all ears.
Felix’s friends don’t care for Oliver since he buys cheap clothes and has a scholarship. Yes, they’re all upper-class snobs here. Oliver hangs outside Felix’s window and watches him have sex with one of the girls. One of Felix’s girlfriends wants to have sex with Oliver to make Felix jealous, but Oliver kinda talks his way out of it.
Oliver gets a call and tells Felix that his father has just died. Felix is surprisingly supportive and invites Oliver to go home with him to Saltburn, a gigantic mansion in the country, for the summer. Duncan, the butler, is oddly terrifying. It’s a huge place, and Oliver is astounded and intimidated.
Oliver hears Felix’s family talking about him and poor people in general. He meets Pamela, a guest who’s overstayed her welcome, and Felix’s parents, Elspeth and James. Elspeth is very plain-spoken and seems to have no filter. Felix mentions that they all dress for dinner here, and Oliver is unprepared for that, but they sort it out quickly with a borrowed tux.
For some reason, all the young folks get naked and lie in the tall grass and thistles. We get a montage of the whole group having fun, and Oliver seems to fit right in after a while. Oliver peeps into the bathroom to watch Felix masturbate, and he likes it– Oliver slurps up the bathwater afterward.
Oliver and Elspeth talk about Pamela, and he points out inconsistencies in Pamela’s stories that Elspeth hadn’t noticed. Pamela goes away. He also talks to Felix’s sister Venetia about her eating disorder; then he eats her, sorta. Farleigh sees it all and tells Felix.
Felix’s parents decide to throw a huge party for Oliver’s upcoming birthday. Felix isn’t happy about him going after Venetia, but Oliver downplays it, and Felix believes that Farleigh was exaggerating. Felix talks about Eddie, a friend who developed a thing for Venetia, and it ruined their friendship. Oliver has a thing for Venetia, but now he’s afraid to act on it. Not long after, Felix and Farleigh have a talk about the family cutting off funding for Farleigh’s mother. Farleigh’s time may be coming to an end, just like Pamela’s did.
There’s a big dinner party for James’s rich friends, and it’s really something. Oliver ends up singing “Rent” in karaoke, and he figures out it’s Farleigh’s prank halfway through. The next day, Farleigh is thrown out for stealing. They hear later that Pamela has died. “She’ll do anything for attention,” says Elspeth.
It’s Oliver’s birthday, and as a surprise, Felix takes him to Prescot to see Oliver’s mother. Oliver is really not into it, but Felix insists. “You have to fix this,” Felix insists. When they get there, his childhood home is very nice, not the awful place Oliver described. Oliver’s mother is delighted that he’s alive after being out of touch for so long; she seems healthy and happy and not a stoned alcoholic drug dealer like Oliver described. We learn that Oliver’s father is not dead after all and that he has siblings despite Oliver’s lamenting that he’s an only child. He also wrote to his mother, telling her about being at the top of the class, in plays, and on the rowing team. Oliver has been lying to everyone all along. Felix isn’t quite sure what to think, but he seems to be unamused at being lied to. Felix tells Oliver to go away after the birthday party tonight, summer is almost over anyway. Oliver asks him not to tell anyone else, and Felix promises that, of course, he won’t.
It’s a wild costume party. Farleigh is there, in costume. He and Oliver have words, “Try harder next time, baby,” Farleigh threatens. He tells Oliver he’s family and belongs there, and Oliver never will.
Oliver follows Felix and India into the giant hedge maze. Oliver confronts Felix about how much he cares for him. Felix does not relent.
In the morning, everyone is looking for Felix. They find Felix’s body in the center of the hedge maze. The family does the stiff-upper-lip thing as the police investigate the body. Things are not all right in the house. Farleigh and Oliver cast aspersions at each other over lunch, and Farleigh loses badly. Apparently, it was a drug overdose that killed Felix, and Farleigh was doing drugs at the party, which is the last straw for James.
There’s a big funeral, and afterward, Oliver undresses and has sex with the dirt on Felix’s grave. Wow.
Elspeth doesn’t want Oliver to leave Saltburn. Venetia seems less than thrilled that Oliver is still there. She gets very drunk and talks to Oliver about her father thinking he’s a spider, and she thinks he’s a moth. She commits suicide later that night. Or did Oliver help?
Sir James talks to Oliver after the funeral. He wants Oliver to go home now because he thinks it would be best for Elspeth and even offers to give him big money to leave– right now. The next thing we see is Oliver leaving Saltburn.
Sometime later, Sir James dies, and Elspeth runs into Oliver in a shop in town. She’s mostly moved out of Saltburn and has a small flat in town nearby where she is staying. What a coincidence that they met there. She wants to apologize for the way James treated him. She wants him to come visit her at Saltburn.
We jump ahead in time, where Elspeth is on a ventilator. He’s been slowly narrating to us in small segments throughout the movie, and we realize it was him talking to the unconscious Elspeth. He promises to look over the house and estate after she’s gone. We flashback to see how everything that happened was planned by Oliver, including killing the others and getting into a relationship with Elspeth, so she signs legal papers making him an heir before she has an accident of some kind, leaving her vulnerable to having Oliver take her off the ventilator.
Oliver dances naked through the hallways of his Saltburn.
Commentary
This is listed as “Drama/Thriller/Comedy,” but for some reason, it’s been heavily discussed in many horror forums, so we’re going to look at it here. It’s a fish-out-of-water story that heavily demonstrates class differences. There’s definitely some oddball behavior and creepiness in some scenes, but it’s a far cry from a horror film.
Barry Keoghan is playing a college student, and he looks every bit his 32 years. Actually, he looks a good bit older than that in some scenes. Otherwise, the acting is really good, the cinematography is awesome, and the sets are perfect.
It’s weird in a good way. I liked it!