Saltburn

Okay so the internet is full of mixed reviews about Saltburn. On the one hand we have people who can’t stop raving about how awesome and brilliant it is. And on the other we have people who are saying that it is the most depraved and insane thing that they have ever seen. Now I was interested in this movie from the second I saw the trailer so we are going to go ahead and see which side is correct, or if we land somewhere in the middle. I couldn’t in good conscience put out my ranking list for the films of 2023 without watching this movie so here we go with my review of Saltburn.

The way that this friendship develops is so sweet and authentic. College kids are the same everywhere. This sad, lonely, poor kid bonds with the rich, popular, brilliant boy. And quickly Oliver becomes infatuated with Felix. At the start of the movie Oliver claims that he was not in love with Felix but of course the audience can tell that even from the start that's not true.

Felix is actually a really good friend to Oliver, he kind of adopts him. Felix helps him through his dads death, he makes him feel loved and wanted. And Felix invites Olivers to come home with him.

When he gets to Saltburn he is kind of treated like a sideshow act. The rich people are all fascinated by the poor boy with the drug addict parents. Felix does seem to be the only one of this rich crowd with any sense of social skills. The rest of them are devoid of any emotional intelligence.

The script is paced very well. You can obviously feel the tension building and there is an overall sense of impending doom. There is a sinister kind of undertone but nothing is overtly stated early in the movie. There are 2 insinuations pretty early in the movie that Oliver is just kind of Felix’s flavor of the month. Oliver’s college acquaintance tells him “he’ll get bored with you” and Felix’s sister tells him “I think I like you even more then last year’s one”.

The first breakfast scene gives me so much secondhand embarrassment for everyone involved. Poor Oliver just wanted some eggs, the butler prepared them wrong and everyone just kind of stares at Ollie like he’s the problem. It's so very awkward.

Eventually Oliver endears himself to the family, though he can never seem to break through with the butler.

Okay so the bathtub scene was one of the scenes that was cited as one of the most shocking and upsetting scenes in the movie and now that I’ve seen it I don’t get that take at all. Was it weird? Sure. But nothing happened that could even a little bit be construed as shocking.

The truly gross scene that happens is when Oliver and Felix’s sister start going at it and he feeds her her own period blood. Sorry but that’s my line. That was so gross and deeply unnecessary.

Through this summer of crazy Felix continues to be a good friend to Oliver including taking him to go see his mother. This is a bad moment for Oliver because Felix finds out that Oliver has been lying to him since the moment that they met. I felt so bad for Felix in that scene because he’s been so kind to Oliver. And a lot of that kindness was born out of wanting to help someone less fortunate, and kind of feeling bad for him. Oliver kind of single white femaled Felix.

And then they find Felix dead after Oliver’s birthday party. The cinematography throughout the whole movie is beautiful but the camera and lighting work when everyone is at the table as they are handling Felix outside is so good. It's intense, and the tension is so well built.

When Venicia died I was actually a bit shocked. That was a lot. And then of course Oliver won’t leave Saltburn. Felix’s dad has to pay him to leave and never come back.

Honestly I think the movie was incredibly well done and truly visually beautiful to watch. It was a very well crafted plot. The sinister undertone was paid off quite well at the very end. He targeted Felix and his family in order to inherit Saltburn and it did it so brilliantly. It's a very eat the rich kind of story and it was perfectly articulated. Because let's remember that Oliver’s character was not poor. He was from a very upper middle class family who could fully afford to pay for him to go to Oxford. This is eat the rich for the sake of eating the rich and that is even better somehow. And Barry was the perfect cast for Oliver, he is great and playing little weirdos.