Prime Time: Saltburn (2023)

Unoriginal and imperfect throughout, Saltburn has been gaining more of a reputation since it became avaialble to stream, as people share their astonishment at a few key scenes. It also helps that it's a brilliant film, elevated by a cast who are doing some of their best work. Writer-director Emerald Fennell may not surpass her debut feature, the superb Promising Young Woman, but she does well enough to deliver something on a par with it. 

Barry Keoghan is Oliver Quick, a student at Oxford University who stands out for all the wrong reasons. It's obvious from the way he carries himself, the way he dresses, and the way that he has actually completed the recommended reading list, that he's not from the same social strata as many of the privileged and carefree students around him. He soon gets a chance to taste a very different lifestyle, however, when he is befriended by Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). Felix likes Oliver, and eventually invites him to his family home for the summer holidays. The family home is Saltburn, a huge mansion that houses mother (Elspeth, played by Rosamund Pike), father (Sir James, played by Richard E. Grant), Felix's sister (Venetia, played by Alison Oliver), and an American cousin (Farleigh, played by Archie Madekwe). Oliver soon starts to feel more comfortable in his new surroundings, but some people go out of their way to remind him that he'll always be a tourist reliant on the charity of the rich and the patronising.

Part gothic romance, part sexy vampire movie, part Patricia Highsmith tale, Saltburn is another film that shows how you can take a number of familiar elements to make something that feels vital and fresh. Whether it is the framing of the images (Fennell decided to avoid a widescreen look in order to show the grandiosity of places like the old university buildings and Saltburn) or the moments of kink that will have mainstream viewers reaching for the smelling salts, this is a film that keeps trying to prod and tickle you while taking you towards a seemingly-inevitable finale. It may seem quite blunt and silly at times, especially when certain details are revealed later on, but it’s worth remembering that a lot of the characters are themselves blunt and silly. Money doesn’t buy class or intelligence. It just means that you have money, and probably keep wanting more of it.

Keoghan, although a bit too old for the central role, gives a performance that is rightly winning him a whole new fanbase. He’s so comfortable in his skin, even as he continually adapts and reacts to the situation and people around him, that it’s unnerving. Everything about him feels slightly false, but it doesn’t matter because everything about everyone around him also feels slightly false. Elordi is equally good, albeit in a very different way, portraying his character as someone with bad habits and good intentions, making himself feel better by befriending a “charity case” he can make happy for a fleeting period of time. Grant and Pike are also fantastic, with the latter already in danger of cornering the market in films featuring people deemed sociopathic, at the very least. As for Oliver and Madekwe, it’s hugely entertaining to watch the cracks appear in their facades as things start to come undone in the imposing surroundings of Saltburn. It’s also worth mentioning the glorious supporting turns from Paul Rhys, as a head butler named Duncan, and Carey Mulligan (delivering what is basically a bittersweet cameo that helps to underline the shallow, cold, and crass nature of the central characters).

There’s also a great score and soundtrack accompanying the visuals (okay, one song from The Cheeky Girls makes an appearance, but the placement of it works), a lot of dark humour underpinning even the darkest moments, and numerous references to the main works that influenced Fennell’s script, ensuring that this will reward repeat viewings.

If you have heard too much about this already, and some people have made far too much fuss over one or two scenes that aren’t quite as shocking as the conversation would have you think, maybe try to put all that chatter and noise aside when you get around to watching the film. I think anyone going into this with a rough idea of how playful and twisted and erotically-charged it is will have a good time, but anyone going into it with some of the many hyperbolic exclamations about it running through their mind is more likely to end up disappointed. And nobody wants that. Saltburn is a place where everyone should end up completely satisfied. At least temporarily.

9/10

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