What really was Saltburn?

Salt burn is one of the most baffling films of the year, with mixed messages about wealth, obsession and class divides – so what is it about? Set in England in the 2000s, Salt burn stars Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick, a middle-class Oxford student, and Jacob Elordi as the object of his desire, Felix Catton, a spoiled rich boy who invites Oliver to stay at his family’s huge estate – the eponymous Saltburn – during the summer holidays. . Oliver got into Oxford due to his hard work and determination; Felix got in due to his family’s wealth and academic connections.

This marks writer-director Emerald Fennell’s sophomore effort, who first broke out in 2020 with his Oscar-winning thriller Promising Young Woman. Promising Young Woman he was very clear in his message and his just cause; is a rallying cry against a culture that turns a blind eye to rampant misogyny and sexual assault. But the message of Salt burn It’s not that clear. It has many contradictory ideas, and its most exciting twists also carry its most problematic messages. There’s a lot to unpack Salt burn – what exactly is the deeper meaning of this polarizing film?

Saltburn is about desire and obsession (is it also about love?)

Oliver was possibly incapable of true love

In essence, Salt burn examines the themes of desire and obsession. Oliver feels an intense, passionate desire for Felix and becomes dangerously obsessed with him throughout the film. When he goes to Saltburn to stay with the Cattons, his desire and obsession spread throughout the estate.. He wants the luxuries the Cattons take for granted – the giant house, the private pool, the 24-hour waiters, etc. – and becomes obsessed with his upper-class, one-percenter lifestyle.

It is possible to include love as part of the thematic exploration of desire and obsession, and Salt burn it certainly touches on the theme of love, even if it doesn’t present it in a particularly pure way. In his first speeches to the audience, Oliver says that everyone thought he was in love with Felix, but he insists that he wasn’t. However, this line alone insinuates that Oliver was, in fact, in love with Felix – perhaps Oliver protests too much.

Whether Oliver truly loved Felix or not, Salt burn it’s really about an obsessive desire and how far someone will go to get what they want. Since Oliver’s sexual desires also turn toward Felix’s sister, Venetia, and his cousin, Farleigh—not just Felix—and Oliver is shown to be callous and cold-hearted, it is possible that he never loved Felix; he was just sexually attracted to him.

Is Saltburn about class? Your Wealth Themes Explained

Salt burn Sends mixed messages about class division

One of the most common themes associated Salt burn It’s class. Classism and class division are big problems in the UK. Salt burn touches on these issues. Felix is ​​enchanted by Oliver because his lower-class background makes him a novelty. Felix is ​​used to hanging out with obscenely rich people, so the fact that Oliver has no money fascinates him. But despite being a fish-out-of-water story about a middle-class kid with the 99% being invited into the inner circle of the 1%, Salt burn largely distances itself from any comment on the class problem.

The lack of any commentary on the class divide is a big problem for the film because, in the absence of that, it’s essentially just saying that the rich are sexy and interesting and that the lower classes are going to ruin the fun for them – or even worse , if they are nice enough to let them in. The different ending Salt burnwhich reveals that Oliver conspired to kill the Cattons one by one to steal their wealth, appears to support the idea of ​​maintaining the status quo. If the rich are kind to the poor, then the poor will kill them.

Should Saltburn be a victory for Oliver?

This is not an “Eat the Rich” story

There is a sense of an “eat the rich” message at the end of the Salt burn because all the Cattons meet a dark fate at the hands of Oliver, and he flees with their possessions and fortune. At this point, it was impossible to root for Oliver. In the final scenes, Fennell reveals that Oliver is an emotionless sociopath, singularly focused on getting what he wants. He doesn’t care what he must do or who he must kill to inherit his desires. When he starts killing Cattons, it’s hard to continue to see him as a protagonist.

In recent years, the “eat the rich” message has become a trend in Hollywood. This topic was explored in Parasite, Glass Onion, The menu, Triangle of Sadnessand The White Lotus in recent years. But in all of these stories, when the rich, amoral characters get what they deserve, the responsible lower-class characters aren’t portrayed as villains like Oliver. Even though audiences could still root for Oliver at the end of Salt burnthe class division remains the same. Oliver does not give back to the poor; he takes the place of the Cattons in the exclusionary one percent.

Saltburn is fun, but struggles with its bigger ideas

Saltburn struggles to take sides in class struggles

Ultimately, Salt burn It’s a confusing film. It could – and perhaps should – have been a fun, entertaining thriller. The final twist that reveals Oliver to be a conniving criminal mastermind draws parallels to The Talented Mr. Ripley. Fennell masterfully executes the jaw-dropping rug-pulling that makes any great thriller work. The audience spent the entire film following Oliver, investing in his story and following his unreliable narration.

The end of the film turns this dynamic on its head and shows that Oliver was the villain. Salt burn it almost works on that level as a compelling thriller with an unexpected ending. But Salt burn it’s not meant to be just a twisty, twisty thriller. Fennell has bigger ideas in mind and the film tries to address broader social issues, but the message feels off.

If it conveys a message about the dynamics between rich and poor, then This message is that the fears of the rich about the poor are completely founded. If a rich person lets a poor person into their home to enjoy their butlers and personal chefs, then they will kill them and take everything. That’s a pretty problematic message for the film to hang its hat on.

What Emerald Fennell said about the meaning of Saltburn

Fennell wanted to create a gothic story

Esmeralda Fennell wrote an essay about Salt burn and what his story meant. Although the theme appeared to be “eat the rich”, Fennell was interested in creating a gothic story, similar to Rebecca, Brideshead Revisitedand The middleman. This is why he chose to use an unreliable first-person narrator. He also added the other archetypes – the Innocent Bystander, the Doomed Romantic Hero, the Desperate Sister, the Jealous Rival, the All-Seeing Butler, and the house itself (via LA Times).

Saltburn, like many of the books and films that precede it, is a story about restraint and its limits and what happens after the restraints are finally lifted. What happens when the woman locked in the attic finally breaks free? She sets the house on fire.”

According to Fennell, he wrote the story during the COVID-19 lockdown when people couldn’t leave their homes or even get close to each other. He said when people are isolated and can’t touch what they desperately want to touch, it can cause the “Gothic madness that consumes Oliver.” For Fennell, it wasn’t evil growing inside Oliver during Salt burn, but something more primitive.