As a pre warning to any words you are about to read, this review is irrational and my thoughts are scattered. My brain has been melted, reformed and stomped on by this film. Saltburn is the modern day, old money, English “Parasite”. Transporting you to a distant past of 2005, where flip phones and rhinestone studded joggers ruled the lands. We walk through a new class of Oxford University students, mingling and socialising with their fellow academic elite.
Oliver walks through the courtyard, into his darkened room, with only a small gap in the curtains lighting up the space, he spies Felix through the glass, towering over his group of friends, casually smoking and looking like the centre of attention among them. As it turns out, he is, he’s someone that everyone wants to be, or be with. Attracting affection from all angles, fitting into his class group immediately, while Oliver struggles. He quickly and forcefully is befriended to a friendly neighbourhood maths student, who is very very intense in all interactions we see him in. Thankfully, Felix runs into a spot of bike trouble, giving Oliver the “in” to be a hero and hopefully spark up a friendship. Felix’s gratefulness manifests in a similarly quick but less forced friendship between him and Oliver.
The friendship that Oliver and Felix initially share, is shown quite intimately, almost romantic in its presentation. You question the nature of their relationship, or at least the feelings that Oliver is having for Felix.
Felix is almost unaware of his confidence, he glides through the film, feeling like he always knows what to say to someone to make them like him, or feel the feeling that he wants them to feel. It’s a quiet manipulation that doesn’t seem all that conscious from him. There is almost an innate swagger coming from every interaction he has, which you understand more once you are introduced to his family.
Felix invites Oliver up to his house, Saltburn for the summer because of Oliver’s family situation. We travel up with Oliver, ogling at the opulence of the manor, from Shakespeare’s original portfolios to King Henry VII’s uncomfortably soiled bed sheets.
The marketing material does a really good job at keeping a lot of this film’s true plot a surprise for the viewer, not really giving away a clear indication of what it could be when you walk in. From my experience, this is the way to watch it, seeing it with minimal prior knowledge made any reveals or diversions in expectations pretty exciting throughout, leading to a satisfying conclusion, even if some of the final act does feel a little anticlimactic at times, lingering in moments to further the runtime.
Performance wise, everyone is bringing their A game to this film, all seeming to have a wonderful time on set, in particular Rosamund Pike and Richard E Grant who play Felix’s parents. They bring a similar unawareness mixed with a subconscious hierarchy over the rest of the characters.
Barry Keogan plays a classic “fish out of water” and brings a lot of depth and intrigue to his role, even if his accent was distractingly North Dublin at times.
Jacob Elordi brings his natural talents of looking like an unattainable human being and adds onto it with a stereotypical old money accent. For me, I have no comments on his accent or performance, I was preoccupied with attempting to suppress my 50s housewife instinct to clutch my pearls and gasp in jubilation whenever he was on screen.
These jubilant suppressions were not easily done, when you also consider Linus Sandgren’s work behind the camera, staging and lighting the environments to objective perfection. There was no fear in the camera placements, showing scale and pursuing intimacy when required. The aspect ratio allows for faces to fill the frame, keeping us fully invested in the emotions we’re seeing on the actor’s face, while also showing tall environments, showcasing the enormity of the castle or its unnecessarily tall ceilings. From lighting to camera movement, this film felt like thousands of bespoke and ornate paintings on screen, while also not overpowering the action in flashy moves or distracting angles. Its a delicate balance, having such extravagance in its set design, lighting and camera, not to overpower the story. Yet, it was done.
Sound and music were also on my good side, with not much to note about sound, but the music was precise in its curation, picking bold songs from many different genres and styles, matching the pace of the scenes.
I have officially added Emerald Fennell to my director tracker, where I keep up to date on strange rumours of them doing an odd remake of an obscure source story and then tell everyone whenever her name gets mentioned. Saltburn blew me away, delivering sharp, funny and intelligent writing to compliment a well thought out story. These already promising elements are helped by impeccable technical inclusion and some really fitting performances. You may be able to guess that I liked this one, and as I dive deep into the London Film Festival for 2023, I will find it hard to not keep comparing other features to this one, pretty good start.
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