Saltburn

Saltburn

Writer & Director ~ Emerald Fennell

Writer ~ Emerald Fennell

2023, US-UK

Stars ~ Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Archie Madekwe, Rosamind Pike, Richard E. Grant

 

You know, really, by now, Barry Keoghan should come with a "Do Not Feed the Animal" warning around his neck.

Expectations heightened by Emerald Ferrell’s previous ‘Promising Young Woman’, this is not as sharp or as troubling, but it’s slicker and it is fun. The debut pop vibrancy is replaced by a sophomoric confidence and certainty. It helps that you have Barry Keogh, Jacob Elordi, Richard E. Grant and Rosamind Pike to bring out the best of it.

Keogh is a slippery performer and practically unreadable and always compelling. As I went in blind, I spent a lot of time initially wondering if he was an innocent out of his depth or whether he would turn at any moment. He’s thoroughly engrossing as he goes from nerd to seducer. Of course, part of this elusiveness is deliberate as the film holds back some of its cards. Pike and Grant are excellent at bringing a subtle instability (Pike – a stand-out) and sudden menace (Grant) to a broad if not caricatured playing. Elordi exudes a warmth beneath his privilege, and his growing shock at realising his summer friend (I won’t say plaything because that implies far more malevolence and cold-heartedness than Elordi’s performance airs) isn’t quite the charity case he initially thought.

Saltburn itself is impressive as stately homes are prone to be, but if the film’s targets are obvious there’s plenty of flair. Fennel knows how to keep the interest. The film takes it time setting up, and then features a number of scenes that are gleefully shocking (the audience I was with were noisily taken aback at times (the bath and the grave especially) with strangers acknowledging their shock to each other afterwards as a kind of post-film therapy). Fennel provides a definite female gaze to the camera, with Keogh positively game.

It's all very arch, pretty and playful, maybe a touch shallow, but with a decent sprinkling of shocks, debauchery and show-stoppers when the cards are on the table and predictability sets in.