Saltburn

Emerald Fennell's second feature is a Gothic romp through the English countryside, a darkly comic thriller that skewers the British upper class with savage glee. Set in 2006, the film follows Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), a scholarship student at Oxford who is taken under the wing of golden boy Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). When Felix invites Oliver to spend the summer at his family's sprawling estate, Saltburn, what begins as a dreamy escape into privilege slowly curdles into something far more sinister.

Fennell, who won an Oscar for her debut Promising Young Woman, wrote the script during lockdown and drew inspiration from Gothic novels like Wuthering Heights and Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley. The film was shot on 35mm film by Oscar-winning cinematographer Linus Sandgren, giving it a lush, anachronistic texture that heightens the sense of unease. Drayton House, a Grade I listed manor in Northamptonshire, served as the titular estate, marking its first use as a film location.

The cast is a masterclass in eccentricity. Rosamund Pike delivers a career-best turn as Elspeth Catton, a bored aristocrat who treats Oliver's poverty as a curiosity. Richard E. Grant plays Sir James, a father so detached he spends his days cataloging antiques. Alison Oliver's Venetia is a brittle beauty hiding an eating disorder, while Archie Madekwe's Farleigh is the resentful American cousin. Carey Mulligan pops up as Poor Dear Pamela, a pathetic hanger-on. The film's budget was $20 million, though Amazon reportedly spent $75 million including marketing. It grossed just over $21 million theatrically before becoming a streaming phenomenon on Prime Video. [edit]

Oliver Quick arrives at Oxford University in 2006, a scholarship student from a working-class background who sticks out painfully among the posh, confident kids filling the hallowed halls. He wears the wrong clothes, speaks with the wrong accent, and has no connections to ease his way. He becomes quietly obsessed with Felix Catton, a tall, golden-haired aristocrat who seems to float through life without a care. Felix is genuinely kind, almost naively so, and when Oliver lends him his bicycle after Felix's is stolen, a friendship begins.

Felix pulls Oliver into his orbit, introducing him to a circle of wealthy friends who treat Oliver as a curiosity. Felix's American cousin Farleigh Start is openly hostile, mocking Oliver's clothes and his humble origins. But Felix defends him, and when Oliver confides that his father is dead and his mother is a struggling addict, Felix is moved. He invites Oliver to spend the summer at Saltburn, the Catton family's crumbling country estate in Northamptonshire.

Saltburn is a Gothic pile of faded grandeur, surrounded by sprawling gardens, a hedge maze, and a dark lake. Oliver arrives to meet the rest of the family: Elspeth, Felix's glamorous mother who treats life like a performance; Sir James, Felix's distracted father who spends his days cataloging the estate's antiques; and Venetia, Felix's beautiful, troubled sister who masks her eating disorder with brittle wit. Also in residence is Pamela, a pathetic, drug-addled friend of Elspeth's who clings to the family's coattails.

Life at Saltburn unfolds in a haze of long lunches, garden parties, and lazy afternoons by the pool. Oliver is seduced by the family's wealth and the sheer otherness of their world. He swims naked in the lake, wanders through the hedge maze, and observes the family's strange rituals. But beneath the idyllic surface, tensions simmer. Farleigh resents Oliver's intrusion and mocks him relentlessly. Venetia flirts with Oliver in a way that seems designed to provoke Felix. Elspeth asks invasive, inappropriate questions about Oliver's family, treating his poverty as a curiosity. Sir James barely registers Oliver's presence.

Oliver's obsession with Felix grows increasingly intense and unsettling. He watches Felix from doorways, lingers in his bedroom, and performs small, invasive acts of devotion. The family, oblivious or indifferent, fails to notice the darkness brewing beneath Oliver's polite, grateful exterior. As the summer wears on, the power dynamics shift, and Oliver's position at Saltburn becomes more precarious. The central conflict crystallizes around Oliver's desperate need to remain in Felix's world, and the lengths he will go to protect his place there.

The story builds toward Oliver's birthday party, a lavish affair the Cattons throw in his honor. But before the celebration, Felix surprises Oliver with a trip to visit Oliver's supposedly estranged mother. This journey reveals a devastating truth that shatters Felix's trust and sets the stage for the film's explosive climax.[edit]