There May Be Others: Thoughts on Saltburn
Spoiler-heavy throughout.
“Ooo, it’s shot in 4:3!” was my first response to the trailer for Saltburn. Sadly, like one other particular choice made in this film, I can’t find a compelling reason it was done.
Saltburn is not a bad film, per se. Some stellar performances really drive the momentum - the pacing is great and it never felt like a slog. Beautiful, beautiful Jacob Elordi is used to great effect as Felix, and Rosamund Pike is a delight whenever she appears on screen as Elspeth. Everyone who appears in this movie is genuinely great and a total treat to watch (honourable mention goes out to Lolly Adefope, whomst just seeing on screen gave me great joy).
So why did I leave the cinema disappointed?
Narratively, Saltburn makes no sense. Barry Keoghan’s Oliver has seemingly no coherent motivation behind any of the things he does - it’s not a particularly strong argument to simply frame this as an ‘eat the rich’ revenge plot (wouldn’t need the grave-fucking if it was), nor is it solely about his malformed obsession with Felix, because he keeps going long after Felix is dead.
It would have made more sense for Oliver to manipulate and murder the family if he was utterly in love with Felix - “I’ve gotten rid of them all, and you’re free from your class trappings so we can be together, hooray!”. That would have given the narrative some cohesion - where instead we get a ‘grand reveal’ that Oliver is behind it all.
Obviously?
This man drank cum-water remnants from a bathtub drain, among plenty of other freak-ass things, it’s not a surprise he’s behind it all, and I think you can credit the audience with having worked that out. There are genuinely compelling story moments in Saltburn that are delivered by an exceptional cast - but the film sacrifices the weight of that on the altar of shock twist.
Not only does it opt for the hacky-clichéd surprise at the end, which is bad writing, but it doesn’t even land! Because it was so obvious! In a film that takes great pains to be very intentional - the costuming and set design are meticulously crafted - it seems so strange to undermine that level of detail with a flubbed ending.
I’m not mad Saltburn, I’m just disappointed.
Despite my ranting, I do still think Saltburn is worth a watch, in part because it’s nice to see some original work with buzz around it (we’re over nostalgia-grabbing reboots already, right?) but also because moment-to-moment the actors on screen do have fantastic chemistry and they really sell the material they’ve been given. Which also just amplifies the disappointment - Saltburn could have been so much more. For a better take on social climbing and repressed queer yearning, maybe try The Talented Mr. Ripley (Jude Law is much a rival for Elordi in terms of beauty). Or, if you want to watch something that pulls at similar narrative and structural threads but arguably sticks the landing better, watch 2022’s Do Revenge - people DO COCAINE in that movie too, and it’s way more fun. But I guess I am grateful that Murder on the Dancefloor has seen a renaissance because of this movie. Saltburn might have killed the groove right at the climax, but Sophie Ellis-Bextor continues to burn this goddamn house right down.