Saltburn: LFF Film Review
While I didn’t completely love Emerald Fennell‘s directorial debut Promising Young Woman, I knew we had an exciting, risk-taking filmmaker on our hands. If you thought that film was dark and twisted, wait until you see Saltburn.
This dark comedy/thriller starts at Oxford University in the mid-2000s and follows Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), a scholarship student from a difficult home. He finds himself drawn into the world of the rich and charismatic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) and is invited to stay at his family’s estate, Saltburn, over the summer.
The premise may sound familiar to you and that’s because it is the same as Brideshead Revisited, which the film knowingly references in one moment. But that is simply the jumping-off point – once Oliver arrives at Saltburn (not Brideshead), the narrative charts its own unique and eyebrow-raising path.
Fennell gave us just a glimpse of how bold, audacious and disturbing her films could be with Promising Young Woman. While that had a worthy message to back up its dark heart, Saltburn is designed to shock and provoke in a shallower way. She pushes the envelope and doesn’t stop pushing – just when you think the characters can’t get any more wild or crazy, they somehow manage to. I find Fennell exciting and radical because you never know what she’s going to do next.
This film contains plenty of graphic content – sex, nudity, bodily fluids and characters doing unhinged things that will make you internally scream: “What the fuck?!” There are some moments that take place off-screen that would have been more satisfying to see play out, while there are other on-screen scenes that seem to exist – or go on for so long – for shock value. Some people may think Fennell went too far and should have dialled these back but I’m not in that camp. These uncomfortable moments are all part of the sick and deranged – and wildly entertaining – ride that is Saltburn.
Whether the story is your cup of tea or not, the acting cannot be denied. Keoghan in particular blew me away with his fearless, courageous performance, which will likely be a huge talking point on social media next month. The less said about Oliver the better, but let’s just say that Keoghan knows his way around a troubled character. We’ve seen him play them before and he never disappoints but he takes it to a new level here.
Elordi, who I had only ever seen in Euphoria, impressed me with his convincing British accent and his charm and good looks made him perfect for the object of Oliver’s obsession. But the standouts of the Catton family were Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant as the parents Elsbeth and James – they got the best lines and made me laugh the most (the film is very funny too). They take the classic British stiff upper lip to the extreme and Pike delivered awful lines so matter-of-factly that you had to guffaw at her candour. Also, I absolutely loved Carey Mulligan‘s brief appearance as an airheaded family friend. She looks so different!
The film was also beautiful to look at – Oscar-winning cinematographer Linus Sandgren crafted some extraordinary shots – and listen to, with some excellent mid-2000s pop and dance bangers on the soundtrack. The only real issue I had was with the pacing and length – it took a bit too long to wrap things up.
Like Promising Young Woman, Saltburn will not be for everyone – but I enjoyed it and thought about it for many hours afterwards. The final scene is currently competing with Barbie for my favourite of 2023.
Saltburn opened the 2023 London Film Festival. It will be released in cinemas on 17 November