Saltburn movie storyline. Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, Oliver Quick finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.
Saltburn is a 2023 psychological thriller drama film written, directed and produced by Emerald Fennell. The film stars Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, and Archie Madekwe. Set in the mid-2000s, it follows a young university student (Keoghan) who becomes infatuated with his aristocratic schoolmate (Elordi) and his wealthy but eccentric family.
Film Review for Saltburn
Saltburn had its world premiere at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023, and is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom on November 17, 2023, and in the United States via a limited theatrical release the same day, before expanding wide on November 22, 2023.
Saltburn is a darkly luscious portrait of obsession and visceral wanting. Fennell is wise to couch the story in the trappings of a British class drama, albeit a contemporary one. Her choice lends the transgressive elements of the film a sense of grandeur that helps make the viewer complicit in the action.
The lushness of the imagery is exquisite, turning the visual language of a psychosexual thriller into the evocative work of an old master. Cinematographer Linus Sandgren’s lens evokes the baroque darkness of Caravaggio and the rococo trappings of Gainsborough. Not since director Douglas Sirk has there been a more effective cinematic use of mirrors and reflections in everything from a country pond to a highly polished dinner table. Fennell’s script is equally evocative in the way it employs metaphors of moths, spiders, and vampires to create the fever dream that is Saltburn’s unreal sense of reality.
Barry Keoghan in ‘Saltburn’. COURTESY OF MGM AND AMAZON STUDIOS
The picture boasts a wickedly talented cast, as devious and surprising in their performances as the story is in its twists and turns. As Oliver, Keoghan turns in a towering performance, sinister and irresistible in equal measure. He gives himself over to the plot’s machinations with malicious glee, his sad eyes and severe cheekbones an effective mask for Oliver’s performative, manipulative existence. Keoghan approaches every scene here with a remarkable level of abandon, propelling the film to its divinely gonzo conclusion. Neither Keoghan nor Fennell are afraid to expose the sociopathic consequences of obsession.
Jacob Elordi in ‘Saltburn’. COURTESY OF MGM AND AMAZON STUDIOS
Euphoria’s Elordi charms as the dreamily delectable spoiled rich boy, employing a weaponized charm to convince audiences that his chief power is not his wealth but his crooked grin and shaggy hair. It’s the best work of his career without question. Everyone makes exuberant choices, from Alison Oliver (Conversations With Friends) in her turn as troubled sister Venetia to Carey Mulligan as tragically eccentric family friend Pamela to Richard E. Grant with a pitch-perfect take on entitled befuddlement.
But Rosamund Pike is Saltburn’s secret weapon — her razor-sharp wit transforms chilly family matriarch Elspeth into a terrifyingly delicious satire of the idle rich. She cuts through her scenes with the precision of an ice pick, once again proving her tremendous skill and deceptively clever approach to her work.
There are those who will undoubtedly find the film’s excesses to be far too over-the-top, but if you’re going to go full Gothic, then might as well be in for a penny, in for a pound, and f— a fresh grave. After all, it’s so very Mary Shelley. The Gothic is defined by excess and the sublime, hallmarks of Fennell’s filmmaking and a welcome respite from a broad range of sterile, ascetic entertainment.
Saltburn is a provocative, violent portrait of repulsion and desire, probing the ways that intense want can transform into something deeply disturbing. Fennell understands that obsession is not merely about possession: Its end goal is consuming the object of your fascination wholly — licking the plate clean, as it were. The film is not for the faint of heart, but it is viscerally compelling and unafraid to luxuriate in its own elegant weirdness. Its endless visual and literary layers will bring its ardent admirers back to it again and again, because it is a triumph of the cinema of excess, in all its orgiastic, unapologetic glory.
Saltburn (2023)
Directed by: Emerald Fennell
Starring: Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Lady Catton, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, Carey Mulligan as, Paul Rhys, Ewan Mitchell, Lolly Adefope, Sadie Soverall
Screenplay by: Emerald Fennell
Production Design by: Suzie Davies
Cinematography by: Linus Sandgren
Film Editing by: Victoria Boydell
Costume Design by: Sophie Canale
Set Decoration by: Charlotte Dirickx
Art Direction by: Caroline Barclay, Neneh Lucia
Music by: Anthony Willis
MPAA Rating: R for strong sexual content, graphic nudity, language throughout, some disturbing violent content, and drug use.
Distributed by: Amazon MGM Studios Distribution (United States), Warner Bros. Pictures (International)
Release Date: August 31, 2023 (Telluride), November 17, 2023 (United Kingdom / United States)
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