Saltburn: crossing the line, or blurring it?

Chiabella James / Saltburn

“Saltburn” is horrifically glamorous and disturbingly enigmatic. Director Emerald Fennel took an untraditional approach to a psychological thriller by embedding it with elegant cinematography and magnificent sets. When Oxford student Oliver (played by Barry Keoghan) attempts to befriend the popular and affluent Felix (Jacob Elordi), one thing leads to another and Felix invites him to spend the summer at his family’s mansion. Located in Saltburn: Oliver’s stay at the villa blurs the line between obsession and love, terror and ecstasy.

“Saltburn” is the type of movie that even if the plot was awful (it wasn’t), would still win fans based on looks alone. The cast was unsurprisingly attractive and the soundtrack impeccable, but what blew the visual aspect out of the park was the set. Similar to Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette”, to create the illusion of madness that the movie held, they rented the mansion out for the summer to film it. Although it wasn’t exactly Versailles, the Drayton House has the classic elegance of old European architecture that is forever alluring to the eye. The wealthy imagery is almost feeding into the innate want for materialistic over-compensation.

Many mixed reviews are emerging saying that “Saltburn” is just too grotesque and edgy. However, Fennel’s mature and novel perspective on psychological thrillers is new, exciting and pushes all the right boundaries. Looking at the film’s recently-released counterpart “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”, one could argue the violent and horrific nature of the children-murdering society is inappropriate compared to “Saltburn”. All of “Saltburn”’s more intense scenes are (for the majority of the time) psychological. While some might debate that this psychological thriller goes too far, as director Fennel says, “This film is truly for the sickos.”  Fennel combats criticism in an interview with Ella Kemp from Letterbox.   

“Maybe I’m being facetious, but I don’t think there’s anything in this film that’s that sick, especially when I’ve been used to seeing women’s bodies treated abominably in film and television,” Fennel remarks.

In turn, there is an essence of the film that is not meant to be fully comprehendible. Oliver’s mind is utterly lascivious, full of sociopathic tendencies and endless intertwined lies.

Oliver is only the primary example of pushing the limit. While Oliver is by far the most intense portrayal of longing, other characters dance around their own obsessions as well. Venetia (Allison Oliver), Felix’s sister, is determined to preserve her beauty no matter the cost, even if food is no longer an option. Felix’s mother adores beauty and has a “phobia” of ugliness. She is tenacious in keeping everything around her beautiful to indulge in her deeply-rooted narcissism. What makes Ollie so frightening is not only his infatuation with Felix but also his ability to manipulate the people around him using their own fixations. Perhaps the scariest part of the film, however, is that– to an extent– it’s relatable. Fennel’s work forces people to accept the lengths to which uncontrollable urges can leap, and how animalistic humans can be.

“It’s all personal, isn’t it? No matter how much you want to get away from yourself, you never really can,” Fennel said.