Saltburn (2023) Movie Review
Saltburn (2023) Movie Review
To question if art inherently has meaning, or if art needs meaning to actually be art, is truly to open a Pandora's box of other questions that try to get to the root of the purpose of practically anything around us. It’s a difficult thing to ponder for very long without feeling overwhelmed; to think about how some human expression simply means more than other human expression in the grand scheme of things really cuts to the “why” of art. Does art need a “why” in the first place? Probably not, but if it is essentially indiscernable whether a piece of art has a meaning or not, then what? Does this imply anything about its value? These are the questions that ended up besetting me while I processed Saltburn, a movie that, maddeningly, might just not have a serious meaning. I raved about the movie Us and how it didn’t serve a meaning on a silver platter to its audience, and I liked how it opened up so many possibilities of interpretation. Saltburn on the other hand, what in the world. I can’t really get into my thoughts on this movie without spoiling pretty much all of its, so please know this before reading.
For those unfamiliar, Saltburn follows a more reserved and studies-focused boy at Oxford named Oliver (Barry Keoghan) who eventually befriends the popular Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) and the rest of his social circle. Once the school year ends, Oliver tells Felix that his home life is horrible, his mother is a drug addict and his father is dead, and that he more or less has nowhere to go. Because of this, Felix invites Oliver to come spend the summer at his family’s huge estate, which is called Saltburn. It is there at Saltburn that Oliver becomes intertwined in the business of the Cattons, and begins to insert himself into their lives in ways that upend the entire family. To now start spoiling the movie, it turns out that Oliver comes from a nice, well-off family and has two loving parents. Oliver had been pretending to be poor and shy, and is actually just a full-blown psychopath whose goal all along was to ruin the Catton family and to gain control of Saltburn. By the end of the film, he succeeds, everyone in the Catton family is dead or just out of the picture, and Oliver is the sole owner of the entire estate.
This film is so frustrating. You probably go into it expecting some sort of Menu-esque cerebral thrill ride with shocking twists and turns that ultimately leaves you stunned and pondering some huge theme, but what you get is a movie that tries so hard to be like that and just can’t do it. To say that Saltburn could almost be seen as a parody of social commentary-loaded thrillers like Parasite, The Menu, and Get Out is probably too insulting to the obvious care and work that went towards making this, but it could perhaps be true. Saltburn makes the enormous decision to have its twist be that the protagonist has actually always been the antagonist. While this is a very interesting concept that I feel like is decently original, at least in this context, it essentially shoots down any possible interpretation of the film as a viable class commentary, which it seemingly tries to be. Why would the entire story revolve around a poor boy worming his way into the affairs of the rich and taking over their world, when in the end it is revealed that he was never poor? Does that not reduce the whole “eat the rich” message to, as the English characters in the film would say, absolute rubbish? Either way, I feel like high-concept black-comedy thrillers about class have become too much of a trend to really pack as much of a punch as they did even a year or two ago. The movie doesn’t even do its own already confounding twist justice. The amount of time that the movie spends on Felix discovering that Oliver has always been lying to him and the aftermath of this, which should be somewhat significant, is, I believe, less than the amount of time Oliver is later seen sticking his penis into Felix’s grave. The movie does not handle its runtime especially well, and even though the movie never bores, it does feel decently long. The “shock” scenes, which mostly revolve around Oliver doing something sexually alarming, are so unearned and really do just feel like they’re there simply to disturb the viewer. The movie also semi-teases some sort of romantic spark between Oliver and Felix that I felt like was just gruesomely ruined by the film’s later revelations. The potential romantic connection is at first presented as maybe a kind of mostly one-sided innocent adoration that comes with perhaps having feelings towards a friend, but then is just butchered the moment that Oliver starts to act utterly bizarre and obsessive over Felix. It’s all just so off-putting.
The first thirty minutes of the film are presented with a sort of coming-of-age whimsy as you watch Oliver kind of start to have these nice moments with his new friends and come out of his shell. Once you later realize it was all part of his scheme to ruin Felix’s family, the entire thing just feels disingenuous and ruined. It doesn’t even really make sense that Oliver would have a pre-made plan to take over Saltburn other than just that he’s an evil weirdo who’s obsessed with ownership and materialism. I honestly fail to see what he accomplishes over the course of the film other than just being a terrible person; he’s already upper class, so his entire plan has no realistic motive. The movie turns its back on anyone who could relate to Oliver in any way in the first thirty minutes. I began to like the movie less and less as it went on, which was just so disappointing. I really didn’t like how all of the humor and fun of the first act was mercilessly bludgeoned by the chaos and intense cynicism of the second half of the film. The movie just makes itself unlikable as it goes on. If this movie was a person I wouldn’t get along with it.
That being said, there honestly are a good handful of admirable qualities the film has that led me to respect it, even if I personally sort of dislike it. For starters, the cinematography and direction are both fantastic. On multiple occasions I found myself taking note of the shots and lighting; maybe I’m easily impressed, but to my eyes the movie is very visually satisfying. The shots get the job done when it comes to being evocative, which ended up being one of my favorite things about the movie. Even putting the shock factor scenes aside, the imagery and tone of the movie do generate an underlying sense of uneasiness, even from early on in the film. From the moment that you can start to tell that Oliver is becoming obsessed with Felix, a subtle anxiety is provoked that definititely helps to the movie’s advantage. It just makes you uneasy thinking about people you know, your relationships with others, friendships, all of it. This movie shouldn’t be seen by people who are prone to becoming suspicious of their friends. I wish this tense atmosphere had been upped more instead of focusing so much on the somewhat ridiculous times when Oliver lets his evil freak flag fly. There are a few moments that could have had some genuine suspense and, dare I say, horror to them, but were underutilized. If you’re going to have a shot of someone mysteriously standing alone in an empty courtyard at night seen from the perspective of someone looking out of a window, do something with that! I thought the Saltburn estate was a great place to have all of the drama take place and I felt like the various areas within the estate were used in the story pretty well. Plus, whoever was in charge of casting nailed it.
Saltburn is a movie that had me rolling my eyes by its conclusion, but that doesn’t mean it won’t wow someone else. I have to give it credit, there’s a lot going on in this movie, so if some aspects of it leave a bad taste in my mouth, other aspects of it may have someone else thinking this is genuinely a very smart and well-done thriller/dark comedy. It’s never boring per say, but if you insist on latching onto the idea that this movie has any sort of coherent message, then I would love for that to be pointed out to me. This is ultimately a dark and mean film that disguises itself as a cunning little “eat the rich” story; if you love any A24-esque movies that have popular actors and actresses and feel like trendy high art, you’ll dig this. I probably was too harsh on this movie, but I don’t write especially negative reviews often so I had to revel in doing so at least a little bit. I would give this movie around a B- or C+ as a grade; I truthfully was impressed by parts of it but as a whole it just didn’t click for me. Maybe someday it’ll hit me what Saltburn was ever trying to say.
