The Black Comedy Thriller on Prime Is Beyond Disturbing and You Must See It

Saltburn was one of my Tuesday night movies. I see a film in the theater almost every week on the same day around the same time, and I mostly choose based on convenience. I had no idea what Saltburn was about when I bought my ticket and ordered my popcorn online.

The synopsis said something like, “A working-class young man is invited to his rich friend’s estate for the summer, and everything goes sideways from there.” 

Ummm… okay? 

I had just seen Jacob Elordi in Priscilla and had decided I hated him. And aside from Rosamund Pike and Carey Mulligan (who plays a very small role), I had little to no experience with anyone else in the film.

So, I settled into my luxury recliner in the top left corner of the theater and watched on in curiosity. 

For the next two hours I sat, stunned, at this visual roller coaster that had me falling in love, disgusted, repulsed, uncomfortable, laughing, and, yes, crying. Saltburn is a brilliantly written screenplay that is directed to perfection with actors at the top of their game. 

The movie opens with a hapless, nerdy boy, Oliver Quick (played by Barry Keoghan) on scholarship at a prestigious university.

He has no real friends and isn’t even particularly well-liked by his teachers, until a cool rich kid, Felix Catton (played by Jaboc Elordi) befriends him.

The two become as thick as thieves, with what seems to be a genuine love and affection growing between these young men. 

Oliver is accepted into the “cool” crowd almost seamlessly, and, while Felix at times has mercurial moods, he always returns to the friendship with real interest in Oliver and his well-being.

By the time summer break arrives, Felix invites Oliver to his family estate for the duration, and Oliver is grateful to accept. 

Up to this point in Saltburn, as a lifelong film fan, I have expectations and predictions lightly spinning through my head. 

But they’re all almost immediately flipped on their heads. 

The family at the estate is off the wall in the most make-fun-of-the-posh way, with hyper-stoicism and flighty indifference coming from the parents played by Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant.

Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi becomes a true heartthrob in his shirtless scenes — the perfectly cut golden god.

He strikes the viewer as impossibly good and too good to be true. And Alison Oliver shines as Felix’s sister, Venetia. Her sarcasm and wit keep you interested in where her story will go. 

But the dark turns Saltburn takes it takes fast and furiously. The last third of this movie is all blood and death and despair, and I sat glued to my seat both riveted and deeply disturbed.

I can’t give too much away because I want everyone who watches it to have the same experience, but suffice to say there are violent homoerotic scenes set against bloody oral sex combined with an outrageous graveside masturbation moment (that was apparently ad-libbed by Keoghan). 

REVIEW SCORE

I walked out of the theater in a trance, in a daze, thinking to myself that I would never want to watch that movie again but also everyone should watch this movie once.

I eagerly looked up other films by Fennell and rushed home to tell my husband we needed to watch her directorial debut, A Promising Young Woman. And then I told all my friends to watch it, with the clear disclosure that this is more than a movie. 

It’s an experience — a visceral experience that stays with you for weeks, if not months. 

But it is an experience you absolutely must have. 

I’ll give Saltburn a 5/5 stars for ingenuity alone.