WFG RATING: A

An Amazon MGM Pictures presentation of a Lie Still/LuckyChap Entertainment in association with MRC Film. Written and directed by Emerald Fennell. Produced by Emerald Fennell, Josey McNamara, and Margot Robbie. Cinematography by Linus Sandgren. Edited by Victoria Boydell.

Stars Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, and Carey Mulligan.

A dream vacation may turn out to be a surreal nightmare in the latest film from Oscar winner Emerald Fennell.

Oliver Quick is a nerdy student attending Oxford University. While seen as mainly an outcast, he finds himself fixated on the popular Felix Catton. By chance, Felix and Oliver meet when Felix has a flat tire on his bike and Oliver offers his so he can make his tutoring session. Felix soon brings Oliver in his inner circle and the two form a friendship. When Oliver gets a call that his father suddenly has died, Felix offers for him to spend the summer with his family at their manor, Saltburn.

Upon his arrival, Oliver is welcomed by the family, all except for American cousin Farleigh, who suspects Oliver has something up his sleeve. However, Oliver begins to slowly prove himself as a worthy member of the family much to Farleigh’s chagrin. As the bond between Oliver and the family begins to grow stronger, a chance to celebrate Oliver’s birthday leads to some shocking revelations and a summer no one will ever forget.

Emerald Fennell turned heads with her Oscar-winning screenplay, Promising Young Woman, released in 2020. She follows it up with this tale of a nerdy outcast who is welcomed to an inner circle he never imagined. There’s a lot of quirkiness and very disturbing things in the film, and this should be put on point. Barry Keoghan is the heart of the film and rightfully deserves the accolades of being nominated for his performance and it’s clear why he deserves it.

Keoghan serves as a narrator of the film, but only in spurts. The film showcases his progression from nerdy outcast to being accepted in the inner circle of the affluent Felix, played with such charm and elegance by Jacob Elordi. It sometimes seems like Oliver has this fixed obsession with Felix, going as far as spying on him while he is with a young woman.  Interestingly enough, when he arrives at Saltburn, it seems under the surface he becomes the object of someone’s affection and that could come in the form of matriarch Elspeth, played by a charming and wonderful Rosamund Pike.

Aside from Elordi, Richard E. Grant is quite intriguing as patriarch Sir James, who at times seems oblivious to the events at the house. Alison Oliver brings a sense of promiscuity, or as it seems in the role of Felix’s sister Venetia. Finally, there Archie Madekwe, who plays bully American Farleigh, who is seen knowing Oliver from sessions with another professor at the school. From the moment they meet, it’s clear Farleigh has a habit of getting under Oliver’s skin, only to amplify it when it comes to his bond with Felix.

Another two-thirds of the film, the film goes left field and soon, it becomes one shocking scene after another and it temporarily stops, then goes back in shock mode with one of the most unforgettable endings that one can never unsee!

Saltburn is an amazing and very shocking look at affluency in the eyes of an outsider. Barry Keoghan delivers a tour-de-force performance while Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, and Archie Madekwe show some great support.