Saltburn is a new film that is appearing on Amazon Prime as you read these words. It was directed by Academy Award winning director Emerald Fennell. It only came out a few months ago so in case you haven’t seen it yet, I am giving you the option of putting this post away for now and coming back to it another day. I will be discussing the movie in detail below, and I would feel downcast and utterly despondent if I ruined anything for you by giving away the plot or revealing anything that happens along the way before you had a chance to experience the movie on your own. If you don’t even know what Saltburn is about, then I am going to place the link to the trailer here. If you have watched the trailer and you feel that Saltburn might be a movie that you may wish to watch, then stop reading right now. Have a great day. Go enjoy the movie and come back to the post when you are ready. If you have seen the movie or feel as though you will never watch it, then stay the course and continue on with this post below. In any case, thanks for making it this far. Let’s see what happens next.
SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!
Alrighty then! For those of you still with me, here we go!
When I was still a school teacher, one of my most favourite things to do in the classroom was to read aloud to my students. Over the course of my career, I must have read thousands of books aloud. Some of them were classics of literature, some were joke books, a few others were books of poetry or riddles or fairy tales or scores of non-fiction books about the planets or dinosaurs or weather or why some things float while others sink and on and on it goes. Most of these read-aloud books were standard fare, but there were a few that had that quirky edge about them that aligned with my sense of whimsy when it came to the type of films I liked to watch as an adult. One such book was called Amazing Maisy’s Family Tree written by Lynn Zirkel and illustrated by Pete Bowman. It is instructive to discuss this book in relation to the movie Saltburn because both contain two key elements in common. First of all, both stories deal with the systematic elimination of a series of ghastly family characters. Secondly, both stories appear to be dark and foreboding, but in the end, both tales are told by their respective authors with tongues firmly planted in their cheeks. The quick summary of Amazing Maisy’s Family Tree is that there is a girl named Maisy who lives in a house populated by grumpy, nasty, selfish relatives. One evening she wishes a secret wish upon a star. The next day she plants a seed that begins to yield a plant that ends up growing into beanstalkian proportions. Along the way, as it grows, the plant begins to act like a willing co-conspirator in whatever Maisy’s secret wish was, because one by one, her nasty family members begin to disappear from her house and her life. As the number of house dwellers gets smaller, the plant gets bigger and the illustrations in the book get more colourful and elaborate and detailed. As we approach the end, it is revealed that the missing family members are, in fact, not dead but very much still alive. They had been taken away by the plant to “teach them a lesson” and to give Maisy some peace but are fine in all regards. At this point, it is also revealed that there is a second story that has been hiding in plain sight all throughout the book. Hidden in the illustrations are clues to a separate story that are laid out like so many breadcrumbs from Hansel and Gretel.
Amazing Maisy’s Family Tree was one of those books that appeared magical, in a way, for my students. It was a work of literature that proved that there could be more to storytelling than simply telling a story that possessed a beginning, middle and conclusion. There was room for a plotline to go in multiple directions all at the same time and not only still make sense but also give the story’s meaning more depth. It was not uncommon for me to witness students borrowing the book afterwards and poring over its pages trying to decipher the clues to unravel the layers of secrets that it contained. As storybooks went, Amazing Maisy’s Family Tree was one of the most unique, original and thought-provoking books that I ever read aloud with children. It is also a good lead-in to describing the movie Saltburn. Like Amazing Maisy’s Family Tree, Saltburn also follows a storyline in which a seemingly powerless, down-on-his-luck character ends up living with a family of ghastly characters who, by the film’s end, also get eliminated one by one. As well, just like in the children’s book, Saltburn has more going on than meets the eye at first blush. There are clues laying about in plain sight all throughout this movie that indicate that, far from being a shocking, envelope-pushing story being told, Saltburn is actually a dark comedy about obsessions and traditions and living life in an authentic way that suits who you really are. So let’s take a closer look at this trending movie and see what there is to see.
On the surface, the plotline of Saltburn is one in which a commoner named Oliver Quick is awarded a scholarship to attend Oxford University. Unlike the majority of his classmates, Oliver is poor and couldn’t have afforded the tuition without the scholarship. He is reminded of this by some of the richer classmates, including a boy named Farleigh with whom he is set up as a study partner. Farleigh is friends with other upper class students including a handsome young man named Felix. Oliver watches Felix on campus in ways that are supposed to give off homoerotic vibes. One day Oliver comes across Felix, who is late for class because of a flat tire on his bike. Sensing an opportunity to introduce himself to this beautiful man, Oliver offers to lend Felix his own bicycle. Felix can’t believe that Oliver is being so kind and accepts his offer. After this moment, Felix takes the shy, socially-awkward Oliver under his arm and starts bringing him into his privileged world. This ultimately results in an invitation from Felix for Oliver to spend the summer with him at his estate known as Saltburn. Felix accepts. We spend the next quarter of the movie watching Oliver learn to coexist in Felix’s castle-like home with his eccentric family members who, to a person, are almost cartoon-like in their flaws and quirks. Over the course of the summer, many things happen that are portrayed in the media as being shocking but are, in reality, simply par for the course when it comes to the nature of who Felix’s family members truly are. This also applies to Oliver. As time progresses, it becomes clear that Oliver is not who he has made himself out to be. That he is a social climber is revealed, and when his access to the world he has grown accustomed to is threatened, Felix and his family members begin to pay a price in the exact same manner as Maisy’s family members did in that children’s book. However, unlike the children’s book, no one at Saltburn turns out to be fine in the end. Oliver confesses that he had murdered them all and controlled everything since his first day at Oxford until his final day as he dances throughout Saltburn in the nude while the song “Murder on the Dance Floor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays aloud on screen. On the surface of things, this plotline seems like it is actually a murder/thriller type of movie. But trust me, Saltburn is about much more than that. Some of the clues strewn about by director Emerald Fennell are crude and lewd but mostly, these clues to the real story of Saltburn are obvious once you know where to look. The key to unraveling the true story behind Saltburn begins with understanding how Fennell plays with the concept of time and how she manipulates how we view the film based upon our own memories that we bring to this movie. Please allow me to explain.
Felix and his family live in a historic manor home that is similar in many ways to the one that Lord and Lady Grantham lived in at Downton Abbey. If you are familiar with that series and movie franchise, you will know that woven into the fabric of that storyline was a reverence for history and a healthy respect for the responsibility they had to maintain traditions associated with the history of Downton Abbey and of England as well. Lord and Lady Grantham had staff who dressed them throughout the day for various events, who cooked their meals, tended their gardens and kept their home safe and clean. Everyone understood their role in the running of things, and everyone accepted the responsibilities that came with these roles. That understanding of place and time and roles permeated everything to do with Downton Abbey. Because many of us have watched that show or others similar to it such as Brideshead Revisited or Pride and Prejudice, we have had our own understanding of the time and setting shaped for us in a certain way. Thus, when Saltburn first opens with Oliver walking on to the campus at Oxford and the music of Handel’s ode to the King, George II, soars with every step he takes, we are getting our first clue that something is amiss and that director Fennell is toying with us. A composition meant as a welcome for the new king evokes memories of a long ago period in England’s storied history. It gives us, as viewers, the sense that little old Oliver is walking into a land of titans and giants. Fennell accomplishes that because we are predisposed to automatically associate the trappings of English history with power and tradition. Then, just as this tone is being set, Oliver walks under a banner that welcomes the class of 2006 to Oxford. It is at this moment that we should have understood what was going on here. This isn’t the world of Oliver Cromwell or William Shakespeare or Henry VIII; it is the world of those who missed BritPop and Harry Potter and Ricky Gervais and were rediscovering it all as trendy retro-chic. This point becomes even clearer during the segment of the film devoted to Oliver and Felix becoming friends while still at Oxford. There are many pub scenes that all have pulsating soundtracks filled with music that is all five or six years out of date. While the music is certainly modern, it is definitely not current for 2006. Every marker that typically helps an audience place the characters and settings accurately is slightly askew and distorted. This becomes even more clear once the movie shifts its setting completely to Saltburn, itself.
Saltburn is an elegant estate. There are real paintings by Peter Paul Rubens on the wall, priceless pottery on display, as well as first edition copies of Shakespeare’s folios in the library. Yet the music that greets Oliver as he spends his first full day at Saltburn is “Time to Pretend” By MGMT. (I wrote a previous post about this song that you can read here). In short, the song is about never being satisfied with the life you presently have. It is about always thinking it is better to be older (when you are a child) and then getting older and wishing you had the freedom of childhood again. Felix and his family are nothing like Lord and Lady Grantham and their family from Downton Abbey. They are people of privilege for whom the trappings of wealth simply come with the lifestyle. They may bear titles, but the truth is that they consider Saltburn to simply be the place where they live. There is no reverence for the historical nature of the house or for the traditions of what it represents. They treat it more like an all-inclusive resort. Their modern attitudes belie the responsibilities entrusted to them by those who came before. Thus, we find ourselves immersed in an aristocratic world that feeds into our own preconceived notions of history. It is in this misaligned state of affairs that many of the events that occur that are deemed to be shocking due to violence or sexuality are really made more shocking because we are expecting a different level of behaviour and manners from these people. Yet, time and time again, all of the people at Saltburn reveal themselves to be shallow, modern, ghastly cartoon-like creatures. A simple example of this concerns dinner wear. If you watched Downton Abbey, you will remember that dressing for dinner in black tie and ball gowns was expected. Nothing else was acceptable. Afterwards, the Granthams would retire into the library or lounge area to discuss the events of the day while smoking cigars and sipping cognac or having tea. At Saltburn, Oliver arrives without any formal dress clothes. He is informed by Felix that a dinner jacket has been arranged for him to wear because it is expected that they all dress for meals. Then Felix rolls his eyes because he feels that the tradition is ridiculous. In the scene that follows Oliver’s first dinner at Saltburn, all of the young people retire, not to the drawing room but, instead, to the tennis court where they drunkenly play tennis while drinking champagne directly from the bottle, all the while still wearing their dinner clothes. Nothing is actually said about how Felix and his family view the importance of maintaining the traditions that come with the home in which they live, but it is clearly shown in their complete disregard for decorum and their willingness to wear clothes as merely clothes while ignoring the cultural and historical symbols that these clothes represent.
I could talk more about some of the so-called controversial scenes that litter this movie but to me, as I watched the film, I cared so little for each character by this time that their acts of depravity didn’t register as being emotionally shocking or disappointing. These characters were all placed in a historically rich and significant setting and treated it all with disdain, as if it was a playground. Thus, when Oliver began acting on his desire to make this world his permanent home and started killing off Felix and his family one by one, I didn’t mourn for those he dispatched nor did I consider any of them to be innocent victims. It almost seemed like a relief that their caterwauling was coming to an end. They were fake people who seemingly stood for nothing other than inherited entitlement.
***For my Canadian readers, it is worthwhile watching the closing death scene. By the time that Oliver goes about killing the last family member while confessing his crimes in great detail, several years have passed, and Oliver is a man in his late twenties or even his early thirties. His desire to control Saltburn has meant that he has been playing the long game. I am not sure if this was intentional on the part of director Emerald Fennell or not, but in that final death/confessional scene, Oliver looks exactly like Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. I swear! It’s true! The resemblance is unmistakable, and once my mind noted the similarity I couldn’t unsee it. Personally, I have always viewed Poilievre as a wolf in sheep’s clothing and don’t doubt for a minute that he hasn’t been playing the long game, too, when it comes to his dream of becoming the powerful one who gets to call the shots from the Prime MInister’s chair. I’m not saying that Poilievre has murderous intentions, but just the same, the resemblance physically and morally appears quite striking.
I will conclude this post by talking about a trilogy of songs that appear at the end of the film. Just before Felix discovers that Oliver is not who he has said he was, it was decided that what Saltburn really was lacking was a blowout party. Because Oliver’s birthday is approaching, Felix’s mother, played with scenery-chewing exuberance by Rosamund Pike, decides that a Shakespearean Midsummer Night’s Dream themed party for a “small” crowd of two hundred is in order. Oliver knows none of these people and none of the people know him. In fact, when it comes time to sing “Happy Birthday” to him, no one knows what name to say in the third line. In order to put the icing literally on the cake of this phony world in which these people all live, the soundtrack to this party is all electronic dance music, complete with throbbing beats in a candlelit outdoor setting. Because this party scene looks so shiny, it has attracted the attention of many young people today. As is becoming a thing, many have taken to TikTok to create dance moves that correspond to these three songs which are, in order of appearance, Mason and Princess Superstar’s ode to beautiful fit bodies “Perfect (Exceeder)”, Tomcraft’s song “Loneliness” (which plays like a party song but is actually about the shallowness of basing values on physical perfection) and finally, the song that has gotten the biggest boost of them all, 2001’s “Murder on the Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. “Murder on the Dancefloor” was a minor hit back when it first came out. It spawned a viral trend among UK club goers who all began wearing green, sparkly eye shadow like Sophie Ellis-Bextor did back in the day. However, what really caused this song to have new life breathed into it is that it plays over the closing scene in the movie. In this scene, Oliver finds himself alone in Saltburn. He has won. The estate is his. He celebrates by dancing a victory dance through the many rooms of Saltburn while completely in the nude. While the spirit of the song “Murder on the Dancefloor” seems peppy and bright, I couldn’t help but notice that, although Oliver may have “won” and his plans have been fully realized, he is, in fact, alone. He has no one to share this moment with. Like all of the characters who died, everyone is ultimately alone in death and/or in victory. In the end, they all revealed themselves as the superficial people that they were. None of them knew how to make real, lasting authentic connections with others. They only knew how to use others for their own gain, or else to simply play with them as playmates. But the song sounds great and Oliver is completely naked (which is still relatively unusual for a male actor on screen) and he is happy…at least for that moment.
Overall, I felt that Saltburn was an interesting exercise in fighting against my mind’s desire to watch this movie through a lens that was being provided for me based upon past movie experiences set in similar settings. This was never meant to be a movie like Downton Abbey. The trappings of tradition were limited almost exclusively to the setting in which the story unfolded. In reality, this movie is set only eighteen years ago in the very modern world. Saltburn is a movie filled with misdirection that attempts to lure one away from a story that satirizes the lifestyles portrayed in most movies set in old English manors to one that would have you believe that it is all for real. But it is not real in the slightest. In the same way that Amazing Maisy’s Family Tree was several stories in one, Saltburn is actually a dark comedic romp through the world of British cinematic history while never adhering to the conventions of that history for a single moment. It was an interesting movie to watch because of its fresh take on conventional storytelling. I thought that the music was pretty good, too. I am willing to recommend Saltburn but with the caveat that you watch it with your eyes wide open. It is not the sort of period piece it presents as. That is all I can say. Enjoy.
The link to the video for the song “Perfect (Exceeder)” by Mason and Princess Superstar can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to the video for the song “Loneliness” by Tomcraft can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to the video for the song “Murder on the Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
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