An Analysis Of The Dark Comedy Thriller Saltburn
Obsession: it is something that can consume your every thought. After it consumes thought, it consumes actions, until eventually, it consumes you. If I had to describe Saltburn in one word it would be obsessive. While the trailer presents a trendy “eat the rich” plot, this film positions wealth in a different light and asks why are we so obsessed with it.
Saltburn follows Oliver, a scholarship student at Oxford University who has trouble fitting in. One day he meets Felix, a handsome popular student who is insanely wealthy—a member of the aristocratic class. When Oliver sees Felix with a flat tire and offers him his bike so he can get to class, the two become fast friends. So when Oliver’s father passes away as his mother falls deeper into addiction, Felix invites him to spend the summer at his home, Saltburn manor.
From the start of the film, the bright cinematography and lush greenery draws audiences in and, like Oliver, we are left in amazement at the manor. However, underneath this gilded glamor, something more sinister lies.
From lurking butlers awaiting command to cold apathetic parents who treat everyone like toys for amusement, Saltburn leaves you cringing at the stiffness. Rules such as mandatory black tie attire at dinner, while breakfast is obviously a casual affair, poke fun at the ridiculousness of high society. Felix’s family is not cruel to Oliver, but they aren’t exactly nice to him either. They are fascinated by his poverty driven struggles and are proud to be the people who have taken the scholarship boy under their wing.
But Oliver is far from a charity case. From the very beginning we see him stare in amazement at Felix and later his family. The longer he stays at Saltburn the weirder he gets, to the point where he consumes bathwater and blood. This uncomfortable lust is obvious, but everyone dismisses it as him being a fish out of water. That is until Felix discovers the truth about Oliver—he’s not poor. He has two alive, happily married parents that lived in the suburbs.
To protect his position at Saltburn, he murders Felix and tries to seduce his sister, Venetia, but she rejects him out of disgust and calls him what Oliver really is—a moth. He is obsessed with pretty, shiny things and will tear holes into everything.
The next day Venetia is found dead in the bath with her wrists cut. Whether it was suicide or murder is up to interpretation. Even though Felix’s father, Sir James, kicks Oliver out, Felix’s mother, Elspeth, remains attached to him thinking that he was Felix’s devoted friend.
Saltburn ends with a terminally ill Elspeth running into Oliver at a cafe and inviting him back to the manor. Ever the mastermind he charms Elspeth into making him heir to Saltburn by becoming her caretaker. At her deathbed, he reveals how he did everything. He purposefully orchestrated his chance encounters stating that the wealthy never worried about predators and were an easy target. He then rips out her ventilator with glee and dances naked around the manor. He successfully wormed his way into Saltburn and finally became what he was obsessed with.
Oliver’s fixation with Saltburn stems from a desire to be special. It’s not enough to be an ordinary boy that grew up in a middle class background, that’s not interesting to the wealthy. With the current infatuation with wealthy influencers and celebrities, Saltburn showcases through its dark humor and psychological thrills that obsessing over rich eccentrics strips us of our humanity. Yes, Oliver technically won, but now he’s just a spider living off a web of lies.
