The Reel Review
Treachery is the name of the game when a freshman on scholarship at Oxford University befriends a wealthy classmate and joins him at his eccentric family’s sprawling estate for the summer. Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin), Jacob Elordi (Euphoria) and Rosamund Pike star in this in this psychological thriller from Oscar-winning writer/director Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman).
Wow. After her spectacular #MeToo-themed revenge thriller debut in 2020, Fennell has done it again, this time with a satirical class war takedown of decadent privilege and the shocking lengths social climbers will go to obtain and hold onto it. With notes of The Talented Mr. Ripley, Keoghan is disturbingly good as Oliver, a young man obsessed with ingratiating himself to Elordi’s Felix, a stunningly handsome, charismatic misogynist who seems to have it all.
The rest of the family includes a terrific Pike and Richard E. Grant as the vapid parents that are so un-self-aware they don’t realize how rude they are, Alison Oliver as attention-starved sister Venetia and Archie Madekwe (Gran Turismo) as the snarky gay American cousin who’s onto Oliver but wary of risking his own precarious position living off the family wealth. Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman) also chews the scenery as a narcissistic self-absorbed houseguest who overstays her welcome – Poor Dear Pamela.
Fennell uses biting wit to upend expectations of polite society, weaving a very dark and twisted tale in the process. Several graphic, shocking moments take the viewer to some uncomfortably dark places, culminating in a finale that is jaw droppingly savage. Bravo!
REEL FACTS
• Emerald Fennell and Rosamund Pike are both Oxford University graduates. Both majored in English Literature.
• Saltburn is the third movie co-starring Rosamund Pike and Carey Mulligan after 2005’s Pride & Prejudice and 2009’s An Education.
• Emerald Fennell (The Crown) most recently appeared as the perpetually pregnant Midge in 2023’s Barbie.
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