CONTAINS SPOILERS
The film Saltburn premiered in theaters on November 17, 2023. However, it was not until the movie’s recent trend on social media that most people were aware of the release of the insane psychological thriller.
On a lonely, late December night, my friend texted me about wanting to watch the film. Not knowing the plot, the actors, or anything about this viral movie, I Googled “Saltburn” only to see crazy headlines and thumbnails. It was instantly apparent to me that the film was not an everyday feel-good type of movie, but rather, one with unexpected twists and turns, uncomfortable moments, and general insanity, but I was hooked. Plans were made to watch it that night. I had seen the TikToks that established the perspective that Saltburn was simply gross and uncomfortable, and while I did feel those feelings while watching, I also thought the comments on hierarchy, classism, and mental health stigma, were missing from the conversation about the film’s impact.
The film centers around Oliver Quick, played masterfully by Barry Keoghan, a troubled Oxford student who fabricated an entire life story to befriend and eventually live with Felix Catton, portrayed by the acclaimed Jacob Elordi. After successfully infiltrating the home of the Catton’s, a palace named Saltburn, as well as their family unit itself, Oliver begins to slowly tear the family apart from the inside, guiltless, before killing every one of them, leaving the money and lore of Saltburn to himself.
This jam-packed plotline had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish, eager to understand both Oliver and the story itself. The cinematography and directing were captivating and simply beautiful as camera shots reflected Oliver’s twisted brain as it melded with his desire for beauty and fortune. The film allowed audiences to feel uncomfortable, and therefore understand Oliver as a person, even through his monstrosities. The creators of the film were criticized for its “weird” scenes and plotlines, but, in my opinion, without them, there would not be the same desire to understand the lead character, and there would be a lack of intrigue in the film.
The film also made important commentaries on the idolization of the upper class. As a society, it is common for us to perceive the rich and the higher-ups as such pristine and important beings, who degrade everyone else for simply not being born into the right family. In the film, Oliver, while perceived as different due to his fabricated life story, is not poor, yet, he still has the strongest urge to be a noble because that was what society told him was valuable in a person: money. If such high classicism did not exist, then the Catton family would not have been killed by Oliver, for Oliver would not have had the motive to do so. Classicism and hierarchy are murderers. They invoke many mental illness triggers and stressors.
The oddness of Saltburn proved necessary for audiences to understand the characters involved, and therefore, the larger themes that were at play throughout the psychological thriller.
