Saltburn (2023)
Everyone was talking about Saltburn when it landed, and honestly, I get it. Emerald Fennell's psychological thriller is the kind of film that burrows under your skin and refuses to let go, even when, maybe especially when, it's doing things you find completely daft. I came out of it genuinely entertained, genuinely baffled, and genuinely uncertain how to feel. That emotional pendulum swung wildly throughout: loving it, then not loving it, liking it, then not liking it. It's a film that earns your admiration in one scene and loses it in the next, and yet somehow, the whole thing still adds up to something worth your time.
The premise is a brilliant hook. Oliver Quick is struggling to find his footing at Oxford, an outsider looking in at a world of easy confidence and inherited charm. A chance encounter with the magnetic, aristocratic Felix Catton pulls him into a friendship that feels both intoxicating and precarious. When Felix invites Oliver to spend the summer at Saltburn, his family's sprawling, eccentric estate, the stage is set for something to go very, very wrong. You just don't know quite what, or how, or when. For a good while, that uncertainty is thrilling.
Barry Keoghan is the engine that keeps all of this running. Let's not even bother debating it: the man is a fantastic actor, and here he gives a mesmerising, deeply unsettling performance that holds your gaze even when the script is pulling in directions you'd rather it didn't. He's backed up brilliantly by Richard E. Grant and Rosamund Pike, both of whom chew the scenery with such delightful, eccentric flair that every scene they're in crackles with a kind of dark comic energy. I did find Archie Madekwe's turn as Felix to be one of the weaker links in the ensemble, which is a problem given how central the character is to everything, but the rest of the cast more than compensate.
Where Fennell really shines is in her razor-sharp commentary on class and elitism. There's something brilliantly observed about watching these people screen contemporary films in a grand stately home, or play tennis in full dinner regalia. The absurdity of the British upper class is captured with such precise, affectionate mockery that it recalls the kind of social satire I loved in Gone Girl (2014), that same sense of a filmmaker pulling back the curtain on a lifestyle and finding something rotten and ridiculous behind it. Fennell clearly has a sharp eye for this stuff, and when the film trusts that instinct, it's genuinely great.
The problem is that it doesn't always trust it. The narrative holds its mystery beautifully right up until a pivotal moment I'll call "the maze scene," and if you've seen the film, you know exactly what I mean. Before that point, Saltburn is a genuinely unpredictable psychological puzzle. After it, the trajectory becomes almost embarrassingly easy to map out. The film shifts gears from mysterious to overt, and not entirely for the better.
Then there are the scenes everyone kept talking about before you'd even seen it. The bathtub scene. The grave scene. I'll be honest: I think they're just there for shock value, shoved in to give people something to gasp about and screenshot and discuss at length, rather than because they serve any real narrative purpose. Some of the most provocative moments in the film are also its least defensible, and that's a frustrating thing to sit with. It's a shame, because Fennell doesn't need cheap provocation. She's a good enough filmmaker to earn her reactions honestly.
The finale tips fully into melodrama, and while it's undeniably shocking, it's also so far-fetched that it strains credibility past breaking point. I went with it, just about, because the film had built up enough goodwill by then. But it's a close-run thing.
Three and a half stars.
Despite its uneven pacing, its tonal lurches, and its occasional reliance on excess over substance, I genuinely enjoyed Saltburn. It's a visually stunning, deeply provocative, and highly entertaining exploration of obsession, wealth, and the desperate human need to belong to a world that will never truly accept you. Emerald Fennell has delivered an unforgettable summer of obsession, and for all its flaws, it's a film that'll absolutely have you talking long after the credits roll, which is more than most films manage.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2023 | Watched: 2026-07-08
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Sky Store
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Sky Store
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · HBO Max Amazon Channel · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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