USC’s School of Cinematic Arts held a long-awaited screening for Emerald Fennell’s film “Saltburn,” which stars Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan, earlier this month. The film, which hit theaters nationwide on Thanksgiving weekend, is a prominent example of excess, absurdity, and desire.
Fennell is well-versed in making an audience feel uncomfortable and doesn’t shy away from visceral or even erotic moments in her storytelling. However, when writing this film, it seems Fennell wanted audiences to also ponder the question: Is it possible to like fundamentally unlikeable characters?
For her second film after “Promising Young Woman” (2020), Fennell recruited a star-studded cast to star in her hilariously absurd narrative. The film follows Barry Keoghan’s Oliver Quick, as he becomes enticed by a charming aristocratic classmate named Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). After forming an unlikely friendship at Oxford, – despite protests from his friends– Felix invites Oliver to his lavish estate for the summer. There, Oliver is introduced to Felix’s world and eccentric family, comprised of his beauty-obsessed mother (Rosamund Pike) and her disastrous best friend (Carey Mulligan), slightly airheaded father (Richard E. Grant), troublemaking sister (Alison Oliver), cynical cousin from the States (Archie Madekwe), and creepy butler (Paul Rhys).
As was also seen in her first film, Fennell has a talent for using color and framing to tell a good story. She romanticizes the absurdity of the film with stunning visuals that make people want to have Felix’s life too. In fact, there is a moment in the film that looks straight out of Pride and Prejudice, with Oliver and Felix peacefully talking about life above a soft fog rolling over a river and vast field at sunset.
To further make audiences fall in love with an otherwise absurd group of characters in a story full of ridiculous twists and turns, the audience is introduced to a multitude of individuals who are as spoiled and ignorant as can be. Still, one can’t help but like them. Felix, for all of his charisma and charm, is nothing more than a spoiled little boy struggling with his status. His cousin, Farleigh, is a judgemental jerk at times, but with enough witty comments on the ridiculousness of his family to make everyone laugh. Felix’s sister Venetia, for all of her efforts to break up her brother and Oliver’s friendship, truly loves her family and just wants love in return. Felix’s mother Elsbeth absolutely abhors ugly people while her husband seems like he’s a bit out of touch with reality, but their almost childish ignorance is what makes them so adorable.
The entire Catton family is oblivious to what goes on around them. However, in a family that doesn’t understand racial disparities and pretends negative emotions don’t exist, Oliver is likely the worst of them all. Still, one can’t help but marvel or even laugh at Oliver’s actions and strategic genius despite some of the atrocities he commits throughout the film.
In an interview Fennell did with Vanity Fair, she explained how when writing the film, she wanted people to sympathize with unlikeable people, highlighting “the sorts of people that we can’t stand, the sorts of people who are abhorrent—if we can love them, if we can fall in love with these people, if we can understand why this is so alluring, in spite of its palpable cruelty and unfairness and sort of strangeness.”
Oliver falls in love with the beauty, wealth, and charm of Felix’s aristocratic family, and while they visibly display a lack of understanding about problems occurring outside of their bubble, Oliver can’t help but want to be just like them – misplacing his desire for their lives in an obsession with Felix.
In every way, Fennell’s second film is a marvelous spectacle of talent and wit. This gothic psychological comedy/drama will leave experts of cinema and casual moviegoers alike in awe with its comical and twisted storytelling and use of cinematography.
The entire film is beautifully colored in the most vibrant hues of pinks, yellows, and blues. The film’s 1.33 aspect ratio makes audiences feel like they’re peering in on something they shouldn’t have access to. Each scene looks like a painting or something taken through a film camera. Paired with a grandiose and dreamy score, Fennell’s team’s use of cinematic techniques completely romanticizes Oliver’s once-in-a-lifetime experience at Saltburn and adds a glittery memory to some of the naturally disturbing events that occur throughout the story.
Ultimately, “Saltburn” is a film that everyone must watch at least once. It is equal parts comedic and disturbing, but trust me when I say viewers will be glued to their seats. Just have an emotional support buddy for that bathroom and grave scene, and be ready to walk out of the theater with your jaw on the floor, because the ending will shock you. However, no matter what people take from it, “Saltburn” is full of a lot of good laughs and unexpected moments that will keep this film on everyone’s minds long after the film ends.