Written & Directed By Emerald Fennell; Starring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, and Carey Mulligan.
Saltburn follows Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), a student who's struggling to find his place at Oxford University in the mid-2000s. He later finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to his eccentric family's sprawling estate for a summer never to be forgotten.
This is the second feature film from writer/director Emerald Fennell, who previously helmed 2020's Promising Young Woman, which won her a Best Original Screenplay Oscar. For her follow-up, she does something more ambitious with Saltburn. Her directing is more technically impressive. Linus Sandgren’s cinematography has some incredible images. Several work with different color schemes. Others involve long continuous shots. Anthony Willis’ musical score successfully plays with a wide variety of different emotions throughout.
Barry Keoghan gives a very lived in performance as Oliver. Over the course of the film, he pulls off so many emotions to great effect. Jacob Elordi is quite charismatic as Felix. Rosamund Pike is elegant with a surprising amount of depth as Felix’s mother, Lady Elsbeth. I found Richard E. Grant to be wonderful as Felix’s father, Sir James. I enjoyed Carey Mulligan’s glorified cameo as Elsbeth's friend, “Poor Dear” Pamela. The hair and makeup work on her character makes her look so unrecognizable at first glance.
In the end, Saltburn may be a bit of a slow burn, but it’s still a funny and entertaining psychological thriller. Not to mention that there’s this plot twist at the end that I literally didn’t see coming at all. I’d be curious to rewatch this movie to see how differently it plays because of that. I can even see its reputation eventually improving quite a bit in the future. Nonetheless, we should all be grateful that there’s a female auteur like Emerald Fennell putting out films like this.
Rating: 3.5/5
Saltburn follows Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), a student who's struggling to find his place at Oxford University in the mid-2000s. He later finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to his eccentric family's sprawling estate for a summer never to be forgotten.
This is the second feature film from writer/director Emerald Fennell, who previously helmed 2020's Promising Young Woman, which won her a Best Original Screenplay Oscar. For her follow-up, she does something more ambitious with Saltburn. Her directing is more technically impressive. Linus Sandgren’s cinematography has some incredible images. Several work with different color schemes. Others involve long continuous shots. Anthony Willis’ musical score successfully plays with a wide variety of different emotions throughout.
Barry Keoghan gives a very lived in performance as Oliver. Over the course of the film, he pulls off so many emotions to great effect. Jacob Elordi is quite charismatic as Felix. Rosamund Pike is elegant with a surprising amount of depth as Felix’s mother, Lady Elsbeth. I found Richard E. Grant to be wonderful as Felix’s father, Sir James. I enjoyed Carey Mulligan’s glorified cameo as Elsbeth's friend, “Poor Dear” Pamela. The hair and makeup work on her character makes her look so unrecognizable at first glance.
In the end, Saltburn may be a bit of a slow burn, but it’s still a funny and entertaining psychological thriller. Not to mention that there’s this plot twist at the end that I literally didn’t see coming at all. I’d be curious to rewatch this movie to see how differently it plays because of that. I can even see its reputation eventually improving quite a bit in the future. Nonetheless, we should all be grateful that there’s a female auteur like Emerald Fennell putting out films like this.
Rating: 3.5/5