Saltburn (2023)- BFI London Film Festival 2023

Review

127min

Genre:       Comedy, Drama, Thriller

Director:     Emerald Fennell

Cast:         Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike…and more

Writers:     Emerald Fennell

-Synopsis-

A young outsider from humble origins studying at Oxford University becomes drawn into high society when he befriends a charming aristocratic fellow student, and is invited to spend a fateful summer at his eccentric family’s lavish rural estate and manor, only for a dangerous game to unfold and threaten to unravel their privileged existence.

If you took a brief glance at the on-screen career of British supporting actress Emerald Fennell, you might have been surprised by the social standards-skewering and society-subverting talents she displayed to Oscar-winning effect for best original screenplay for ‘Promising Young Woman’, and to critical acclaim for her writing work in hit series ‘Killing Eve’. But now after having savaged the patriarchy and sexual assault in vengeful American style with her 2020 debut, and armed with her own Oxford University education, the UK filmmaker returns home to take on a class system she knows well in ruthless and riotous black comedy style—delivering a tense and twisting cinematic mediation on wealth, privilege and ambition to remember.

Barry Keoghan stars working-class Northern lad from seemingly a humble and troubled background ‘Olliver Quick’, finding himself a fish out of water among the well-to-do and confident Oxford student body—including the pompous ‘Farleigh’ (Archie Madekwe)—who largely look down on him (figuratively and literally), only to form an unexpected bond with his cousin and coolest of college kids ‘Felix Catton’ (Jacob Elordi), who invites Ollie to his sprawling family home ‘Saltburn’ for the summer. But after charming the aristocratic Catton family, including Felix’s parents the eccentric ‘Sir James’ (Richard E. Grant) and the oblivious ‘Lady Elspeth’ (Rosamund Pike), Ollie’s long stay turns sour as tensions grow between him and his rather ridiculous hosts, and amongst themselves, as the family’s future is threatened by a Machiavellian twist.

It should come as no surprise that ‘Saltburn’ is dressed to the nines from top to bottom, as Fennell and her costume and production teams make sure all the pomp and decadence is immaculately styled for cinematographer Linus Sandgren (American Hustle, La La Land) to vividly capture in narrow and intimate classic academy ratio, along with the opulent English estate Drayton House in Northamptonshire where the majority of the spectacle was filmed—a stunning location which makes its screen debut here, and is itself a key narrative element and the titular character of the film. The film’s atmosphere and mood meanwhile are established by a classical score and a soundtrack blending hymns and choral pieces with plenty of recognisable pop and dance tunes, many from the noughties when the story takes place.

Clearly inspired Evelyn Waugh’s ‘Brideshead Revisited’ and Patricia Highsmith’s ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ and all their different screen adaptations, Emerald Fennell combines their two central narrative concepts in a mostly 2006 setting and under the focus a modern societal lens to skewer the pomposity and obliviousness of the British upper classes, whilst combining it with a darkly comedic study on obsession, resentment, and ambition. But the originality at heart of the film and its irrepressible energy comes from how she threads it all together using her sharp and acerbic comedic sensibilities. As she creates hilariously blunt and comically self-unaware ultra posh characters who directly and passive-aggressively target each other and everyone else with caustic wit and gloriously barbed dialogue—ultimately doing more damage to themselves and helping to deliver the film’s satirical savaging of the anachronistic and out of touch nature of the British ruling classes.

Things in ‘Saltburn’ do however take an unexpectedly but welcome dark turn though, fuelled by the current atmosphere of resentment and anger towards wealth and privilege, whilst a saucy sexual element and LGBTQ+ angle helps shift the mood back and forth between black comedy and ominous erotic thriller, before gut-punching the audience with a devilishly devious and Machiavellian twist.

With all the stylistic and narrative elements in place, it ultimately falls on the shoulders of the ensemble cast to make Fennell’s savvy narrative and witty dialogue pop off the page . . . and boy do they carry that weight with aplomb. Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant as the lady and lord of the manor prove to be the film’s comedic stars by stealing scenes and nailing some of Fennell’s most outrageously hilarious lines, and perfectly embodying the oblivious and stiff upper lip nature of the upper class. Meanwhile the likes of Archie Madekwe as the entitled but periled Catton cousin, Carey Mulligan as the blissfully dim overstaying family guest, and Paul Rhys as the creepy and omnipresent Saltburn butler further prop up the film’s comedic credentials, whilst injecting some of the sass, awkwardness and venom into the piece.

Despite also getting in on the comedic action themselves with gusto, it falls on the film’s two principal stars and leading duellists to carry the dark dramatic heart and emotional core of the piece in style and with undeniable mutual chemistry, as rising Aussie screen star Jacob Elordi seamlessly slides into the British upper classes with effortless charisma as the alluring yet still out of touch modern face of the English aristocracy, and the object of everyone’s affection . . . or obsession. But the real star of the show is undoubtedly the talented Mr. Keoghan in his first leading role and his most layered performance to date, as the Irishman underlines his growing reputation as a master of odd and disquieting young characters—as always brining a sense of danger and allure to the part—and committing fully to this master manipulator by laying it all bare for the camera.

All the cinematic ingredients are skilfully brought together, leveraging both the appeal and the pomposity of the British aristocracy in the 21^st century to hugely entertaining effect, whilst giving the audience food for thought about its place in a country struggling to preserve its history and culture while staying in touch with the present and looking to the future. But ‘Saltburn’ is ultimately more than just the sum of its parts and Fennell’s sophomore effort proves a dastardly delightful and majorly compelling testament to her evolution as a bold and playful filmmaker.

The Bottom Line…

An audacious and devilishly droll black comedy class drama with satirical undertones and a dark heart, ‘Saltburn’ stylishly brings together an array of cinematic elements and soars on the strength of its dialogue and the excellence of its performers to deliver a gripping and utterly entertaining savaging of wealth and privilege, ambition and obsession—underlining Emerald Fennell’s growing reputation as one of the most riveting female voices in cinema today.

‘Saltburn’ is out in UK and US cinemas on the 17th of November.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Brideshead Revisited (2008)

In pre World War II Britain a young middle-class student at Oxford University begins a long and tumultuous association with an opulent country estate and its wealthy family when he befriends the manor’s lord, setting in motion a series of relationships with different members of the troubled aristocratic family while he tries find his own place in a world about to be forever changed, in this adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s acclaimed 1945 novel.

Directed by Julian Jarrold and starring Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw and Emma Thompson among others.

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