“Saltburn” is a drama/gothic thriller that follows Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), an Oxford scholarship student who becomes seemingly enamoured with Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) and the two strike a friendship. Oliver infatuated with Felix and his entire lifestyle, orchestrates a plan that sees him going from a reject in their class to joining the inner circle as Felix’s friend, which gets him an invitation to Felix’s family home, Saltburn, where Oliver begins to manipulate his way into every Catton’s graces.

In order to manipulate his way into Felix’s inner circle, Oliver lies about having a tragic life, which baits Felix into feeling sorry for him and ultimately inviting him to Saltburn as a token poor friend, as he seems to always does as stated by Felix’s sister Venetia (Alison Oliver) and their cousin Farleigh (Archie Madekwa). Oliver, in order to garner favour from all the Cattons however, not only charms Felix’s mother Elsbeth (Rosamund Pike), but also frolics with Venetia and sleeps with Farleigh, albeit it being a ploy to frame him and sent him away from Saltburn as part of his long con to weasle himself into staying at Saltburn for long.

Felix soon discovers that Oliver has been lying to him about his family situation and discovers Oliver comes from a normal middle class family. This is revealed just as the Cattons had planned a birthday party for Oliver, who feels backed into a corner by Felix’s discovery and this leads Oliver to poisoning Felix to avoid being exposed. Oliver orchestrates Felix’s death and desecrates his burial spot at the funeral, a literal “fuck you” to Felix, who Oliver clearly both loves and loathes. The lines become extremely blurry. Oliver wants Felix and literally wants his life too. That may be the gayest thing to exist, or he is just a sociopath. Because Oliver is an unreliable narrator, we will never really know, and something about the way the movie is written makes it confusing whether this was intentional or it was a miss by the writers.

After Felix’s tragic death, the family falls apart, with Jacob’s sister committing suicide soon after, and their father dying soon after, living Elsbeth as the sole custodian of Saltburn. Years later, Oliver “happens” upon Elsbeth in a coffee shop, and they resume their friendly relationship. Oliver manipulates Elsbeth to the extent that she gives him power of attorney over Saltburn. Oliver seemingly exacerbates her sickness and causes her death, leaving him ownership of Saltburn.

“Saltburn” asks too much of its viewers. It isn’t clear why Oliver is even interested in Saltburn. He has no clear motive for his actions, which are well orchestrated but do not pay off as there is no apparent reason for them. Oliver’s character and his motivations leave a lot to be desired. All the things he does are motivated by this perverse inexplicable need to own Saltburn, he isn’t actually in love with Felix nor is his sexuality defined because he uses sex as merely a means to end. There is nothing that he isn’t willing to do in service of his goal to own Saltburn. Oliver licking Felix’s body fluids from a tub or going down on Venetia while she is on her period, or having literal sex with the ground where Felix is buried all do nothing to develop his character or bring the audience on board towards his goals. It leaves the audience shocked and confused at the actions of a mad man who is doing things just for the sake of it.

While “Saltburn” is intriguing and an easy watch, it is not a well written story and leaves a lot to be desired. The setting and the cinematography is gorgeous, the acting is brilliant, as you wince at every choice Barry Keoghan makes, hoping for a payoff which unfortunately never comes. The story has a lot of holes in it which is a disservice to the movie because it ends up like the “cinema of the unsettling” bit on The Office, that delivers shocks and awe but no clear narrative. Even if it was a commentary on class, what is it saying? When a movie wants to “subvert” a genre, it needs to be fully aware of what genre it is subverting. “Saltburn” had the makings of a gothic horror that gave up along the way (although its considered a psychological drama/dark comedy?) and giving up along the way isn’t subverting the genre, the audience just have a half cooked idea that they are supposed to be excited about but can’t. Sure people will talk about the shocking scenes and the beautiful aesthetics, but story wise, it really left me wanting.

Rating- 3 out of 5

Streaming on- Amazon Prime