‘Saltburn’ thrives on provocation
Writer/director Emerald Fennell follows her Oscar-winning effort, “Promising Young Woman,” with another movie intricately tailored to make audiences squirm.
“Saltburn,” a nefarious blend of dark humor, psychosexual thrills and more than a little “Talented Mr. Ripley,” won’t be regarded as the feel-good holiday hit of the year. It’s a movie engineered to provoke, and more than a few who watch it won’t leave the theater feeling good about it.
It’s Fennell’s commitment to stirring divisive reaction that makes “Saltburn” an exciting, if ultimately unfocused experience.
Much of the film’s squirm factor can be credited to casting Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick, a scholarship student of modest means who begins attending Oxford University circa 2006 and is immediately isolated from his spoiled, “family-money”-centric coeds. Despite the creepy vibe, Oliver worms his way into a friendship with Felix Catton (“Euphoria” star Jacob Elordi), a magnetic and popular kid from a super-rich family (and owners of the titular estate, Saltburn).
Oliver eventually finds his way to an extended summer stay at the sprawling estate (presented as a royale castle lost in time, if not for the scene where characters watch “Superbad” and “The Ring” in an otherwise antiquitous living room).
Also home for the summer: Felix’s vacuous-but-tradition-obsessed parents, played with wily, enthralling verve by Richard E. Grant and Rosamund Pike. Felix’s sister (Alison Oliver) makes eyes at Oliver to provoke her brother, while Felix’s cousin/Oxford classmate Farleigh (Archie Madekwe) interrogates Oliver’s infiltration of the rich family.
Keoghan, an Oscar nominee last year for “The Banshees of Inishirin,” channels the stomach-churning freakiness of his breakthrough role in 2017’s “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” to give Oliver a just-right ominous gaze. He appears attracted/aroused by Felix’s life, but it’s rarely clear if that obsession is awkward or something more sinister.
To say “Saltburn” resembles plot elements of “The Talented Mr. Ripley” sort of undermines the balancing act Fennell attempts to create between Oliver’s desires and the ghastly opulence of Felix’s life. Nevertheless, the comparisons won’t be avoidable to anyone who’s seen “Ripley” (one of the best films from one of the best movie years of all-time: 1999), and Fennell, for her part, seems to know you’re thinking about it anyway.
Taken on its own merits, “Saltburn” is impeccably produced, with Fennell exceeding the scope and artistic precision of the already-well-crafted “Promising Young Woman.” The immaculate production design, arresting cinematography and editing come accented with a ravish score by Anthony Willis. Even if the story of “Saltburn” leaves some feeling icky, the technical execution should be universally lauded.
About that story: “Saltburn” follows a relentlessly unnerving character into a world of borderline-disgusting privilege. There’s a kinkiness to the picture too that escalates consistently before climaxing in a go-for-broke finale that tops the divisively bold turn that Fennell took in the final minutes of “Promising Young Woman.”
While the journey through “Saltburn” is uniquely enthralling, many won’t appreciate the provocation. Fennell’s scripting here is both structurally and thematically loose ended, leaving audiences to draw wildly diverse conclusions.
“Saltburn” is both lavish and icky; both enthralling and disturbing; both precisely intentioned and frustratingly unkept. It will be one person’s favorite movie of the year and another’s worst cinematic experience of their life.
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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.