“Saltburn” satirizes the ultrarich in 2006 England

How can a scholarship student at posh Oxford University, England, possibly fit in or relate to his privileged, silver-spoon-in-their-mouths classmates? In writer/director Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn,” set in 2006, that’s the dilemma for poor Oliver Quick who looks as drab as others find him. But he has one advantageous attribute, i.e., he watches carefully and assesses individuals astutely.

So, when Oliver gets the opportunity to befriend the handsome, dashing, popular Felix Catton, he manages to ingratiate himself with ease. An open, appreciative Felix invites Oliver to join him, friends, and family at his lavish estate, Saltburn, also the film’s suggestive title. What follows, as Oliver observes a bizarre group of eccentric inhabitants, proves too delicious and astonishing to spoil with details here. Suffice it to say, that the surprising events unfold through the inspired performances of Barry Keoghan (seen most recently in “The Banshees of Inisherin”), Jacob Elordi (starring now as Elvis in Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,”), Rosamund Pike as Felix’s mother, Richard E. Grant as Felix’s father, Carey Mulligan as a friend, and more.   

There’s no sophomore slump for writer/director Emerald Fennell whose first film, “Promising Young Woman” made waves in 2020. In “Saltburn,” only her second feature, Fennell takes a sharp scalpel to the insufferable wealthy, wanting, as quoted in a Vanity Fair article, “the feeling of a summer where everyone loses their mind together.” Considering the superrich, she says, “If we can understand why this is so alluring, in spite of its palpable cruelty and unfairness . . . that’s just such an interesting dynamic.” “In an interview for this year’s Telluride Film Festival premiere, Fennell accurately describes her approach as bordering “on the allegorical,” adding, “I love making people squirm.”

Shot on location at Drayton House, Northamptonshire, East Midlands of England, she succeeds in evoking an appropriately uncomfortable response through cinematographer Linus Sandgren’s restricted 1.33:1 aspect ratio making viewers feel like voyeurs. “Saltburn” is an experience, with the final scene delivering an incomparable surprise that wraps this package up with a perfect jolt. Check listings.