Almost None: Revisiting SALTBURN

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

Emerald Fennell‘s Saltburn was not only one of the most anticipated films of 2023, but one of the most polarizing amongst audiences. The chiefly divisive element, bar none, was the film’s finale, which left many viewers, including myself on first viewing, confused as to its intentions. It seemed as if one movie had been presented for ninety-eight percent of the runtime, only to be swapped out for another in the last two percent. Having expected a typical eat-the-rich satire, i.e. Parasite (2019), this truly put me off. However, upon subsequent viewings and doing my own research, not only do I realize I misattributed the creative intentions entirely, but I appreciate its mad genius much more, warts and all.

A Refresher

In the film, Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) recounted everything to an unknown off-screen character. After meeting the rich and handsome Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) at Oxford University, Oliver fell head over heels for his new friend, who eventually invited him to stay at Saltburn, the Cattons’ luxurious estate. As the summer progressed, Oliver continuously did whatever he had to to ingratiate himself with the family – mother Elspeth (Rosamund Pike), father James (Richard E. Grant), sister Venetia (Alyson Oliver), and cousin Farleigh (Archie Madekwe) – an effort which involved increasingly odd, manipulative and improvisational tactics.

source: Amazon MGM Studios

However, once Felix discovered that Oliver’s backstory was completely manufactured, having lied about his mother being a drug addict, being an only child, and his father being dead, he quickly broke off their friendship. Following such devastating rejection, Oliver proceeded to poison Felix. Post-funeral, Venetia had a revelatory conversation with him, wherein she got right to the core of his true nature; “You’re a moth. Quite harmless, drawn to shiny things, banging up against a window, and begging to get in”. The next morning, Venetia was found dead in the bathtub, having apparently committed suicide. James then paid off Oliver so that he’d leave Saltburn and never return.

Fifteen years later, upon James’ death, Oliver had a seemingly coincidental run-in with Elspeth at a coffee shop, whereupon she happily invited him to stay with her at the mansion. At this point, it was revealed that she, in fact, was who Oliver had been talking to the entire film, deep in a coma after he had been slowly poisoning her for a few months. Staging it as a tragic illness, Oliver promised to take good care of Saltburn, which Elspeth had bequeathed to him in her will. He also disclosed not only that he had manufactured his meeting Felix, but was also responsible for the tragic events at said estate, including Felix’s death, and supplying Venetia with razor blades for her suicide.

source: Amazon MGM Studios

After divulging this explosive information, Oliver murdered Elspeth by yanking out her endotracheal tube, letting her choke to death. This then led us to the most talked-about ending of the year, wherein Oliver danced nude throughout Saltburn, and looked down upon a puppet box – visually metaphoric of the Catton family – to the tune of ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ by Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Was This All a Scheme to Take Over the Mansion?

As previously stated, this finale led to much misinterpretation of the story, its themes, and Emerald Fennell‘s intent on my part, along with many other audience members. At first glance, it appeared that Oliver orchestrated the whole story to his liking, with the endgame of doing away with the Catton family so he could own the estate. Unsurprisingly, subsequent theories were spun about the film being a boogeyman tale of the middle-class, a theory which gained even more fervor given that Fennell comes from a rich family herself. However, as time passed, I couldn’t get the movie out of my mind. I gradually began to pick my own reading of the story apart, as well as my own expectations, and even watched a fantastic deep-dive from YouTuber Amanda the Jedi that clarified the actual meaning behind everything.

In summation, all was not perfectly orchestrated by Oliver as a long-term plan to assume ownership of Saltburn. Factually, the film was a tale about escalating desire, with Oliver consistently improvising a performance tailored to whoever he was speaking to, or whatever was happening, in the immediate moment. He started out wanting to be Felix’s friend, and crafted a sympathetic backstory to get in his good graces. Throughout his visit to Saltburn, no matter the situation, Oliver continued to tailor his “performance” (a term he himself uses to describe it later on). But as his charade unraveled, his actions and aspirations spiraled into darker and darker territory.

source: Amazon MGM Studios

It does not logically make sense that somehow, after fifteen years, it was always Oliver’s plan to one day meet Elspeth at a cafe after James’ tragic death (how could he arrange that part to happen, anyway?), get her to invite him back to Saltburn, murder her, and take over the property. In actuality, Oliver simply picked up where he left off. On top of that, as he prepares to kill Elspeth, Oliver actively shifts his narrative repeatedly. He flip flops from saying how much he loved Felix, to declaring he hated him, then builds upon that narrative by claiming he hated the Catton clan altogether, and that they “made it so easy… no natural predators. Well, almost none”. When such a hateful and villainous sentiment is given in direct contradiction to one far more loving – that Oliver is saddened at Elspeth’s predicament and vows to take good care of her home – it becomes clear not only that he is constantly evolving the story he tells himself, but doesn’t even fully understand his own feelings, his motivations, and that he just goes wherever his base instincts take him in the moment.

Why the Misinterpretation?

Overall, I think the reason I and so many people initially misread the intent of Saltburn, and therefore dismissed it, is partly because of the recent slew of “eat the rich” satires, in both film and television. From The Menu (2022) and Triangle of Sadness (2022), to Parasite, The White Lotus (2021-) and the Knives Out series, these types of stories increasingly show how much this anti-high-society sentiment resonates with so many viewers. Moreover, in a world where the rich continue to bolster their wealth, whilst the middle and lower-classes still struggle to keep roofs over their heads and pay their bills, it feels good to see said upper class get their dues in a piece of fiction. Therefore, when we see a movie taking place in that world, and which doesn’t fit that mold, we understandably feel resistance to it, and reflexively critique it as a poor example of such a specific genre- very much like I did after seeing it in theaters last fall.

source: Amazon MGM Studios

Final Thoughts

Is Saltburn, even with misgivings cleared up, a perfect film? Not at all. There’s some additional commentary involving the racial implications of Farleigh, a black man from a poor family, being given housing and financial support by a rich white family, which is given very little attention, to the point where I think it deserved its own movie to be more fleshed out. I also think some of its shock-value moments are truly there for their own sake, such as its ridiculous “vampire scene” (if you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know what I’m talking about), or Oliver lapping up a certain, uh, bodily substance from the bottom of a bathtub. Last but not least, I feel the ending montage of flashbacks showing Oliver’s hand in the events at Saltburn, spoon-feeds information that should’ve been left up to the audience’s imagination, similar to the psychiatrist scene at the end of Psycho (1960). Despite those issues, though, I find the movie an uncomfortably entrancing tale of desire, one that I will continue to return to for years to come.

You can view the aforementioned video essay from Amanda the Jedi here: