The Tartan

By Lora Kallenberg and Haley Williams

BIG SPOILER WARNING: If you haven’t watched yet, go watch. Right now. No excuses.

Despite releasing in mid-November, “Saltburn” flew under the radar for a few weeks. However, as more people made it into the theaters, it gradually amassed a substantial following and an infamous reputation. Directed by Emerald Fennell (who you might know from “Promising Young Woman” or “Barbie”), “Saltburn” follows Oxford freshers Oliver Quick and Felix Catton in a whirlwind summer entanglement¹. As he wrestles with a crush taking a hard right into obsession, Oliver must carefully navigate the maze of interactions and expectations that come along with a lavish summer at Saltburn.

One of the most immediately striking things about “Saltburn” is the visual aesthetic. Everything is so beautiful all of the time, even when dealing with some truly ugly subject matters. The opening sequence is a series of some of the most pleasing shots we’ve ever seen, perfectly highlighting Oliver’s view of Felix. Oxford is straight out of a dark academia pinterest board, and Saltburn… dear God, Saltburn. From the very first time we see it, Saltburn is awe-inspiringly grand, entirely taking over the shot and dwarfing Oliver in a way that really stands out. As the massive front doors open, you can’t help but feel that Oliver is about to be swallowed up by a beast. In every outdoor scene, it’s all clear blue skies and perfect green grass, framed by lush hedges and towering statues. The lighting is absolutely scrumptious.

Without getting too spoiler-y, someone is always highlighted. Someone is always cast in shadow. There are sunbeams all over the place, and the color tints at times will make you see God. Oliver bathed in blue, Felix backlit with an angelic glow, a whole room awash in red… even if you do not care at all about the plot, watch “Saltburn” just for the visuals. The cinematography also had us acting some type of way. So many of the shots are so obviously intentional, you can’t help but marvel at them. There were so many scenes that had me yelling, “Beautiful shot!” It’s world-altering.

The soundtrack and score for “Saltburn” are also huge wins in my book. A lot of the score has a very reverent feel to it, all powerful strings and huge chords, along with themes and even whole pieces taken straight from a hymnal. This is offset by the soundtrack, which is perfectly 2007. One moment you’ll be bumping to Flo Rida, and the next, Anthony Willis is ripping your heart out with “The Maze.” It’s fun; it’s beautiful; it’s hilarious; it’s heart wrenching; it’s perfect.

Somebody get the casting director on this movie a raise. Jacob Elordi is the prettiest pretty boy to ever pretty boy, Barry Keoghan is the freakiest little freaky little weirdo to ever get freaky, and Rosamund Pike is perfect in every way. Every single character feels so real and raw and wonderful and messed up that it’s honestly really hard to pick a favorite. Barry Keoghan obviously has to get huge props for the leading role – Oliver is an insane, desperate, obsessed, and soooooo delightfully poor little meow meow, the tumblrinas (and me, Haley) are just eating him up. Short King Keoghan is just constantly looking up at all of his castmates through his eyelashes, and Elordi and Archie Madekwe (Farleigh) are always towering over him. Really, there’s not a single slouch in the whole entire cast. Special props to Rosamund Pike for delivering one of the most iconic lines of the film discussing Elspeth’s past adventures as a lesbian. Alas, the life was not for her. She also has one of our favorite moments in the film – a beat of dead silence before a piercing scream, wrought with anguish, comes from the maze. And then she can’t even bring herself to look at Felix. It’s ART. God bless this cast.

One of my favorite things about this movie is everything that you can catch upon rewatching. There are too many to lay them all out, but I can do a highlight reel of some of our favorites. First, Farleigh taunts Oliver towards the beginning of the film, telling him that he almost passes for “a real human boy.” One of the first few nights Oliver is at Saltburn, Venetia tells Oliver that he’s “so real.” Huge success for Oliver! The personality he has concocted specifically for this family is working! I cannot get over Felix’s party outfit either — it’s so ridiculously reminiscent of Juliet’s outfit from Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet” that you can’t help but feel like Felix is not quite on theme for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” It’s hilarious! I love it! There’s also the fact that the Minotaur at the center of the maze was modeled after Barry Keoghan’s body, the inclusion of Felix’s bracelets on his cross, and the fact that Farleigh’s hair is modeled after Chad’s from “High School Musical,” which came out in 2006, a year before “Saltburn” takes place.

“Saltburn” also does a great job pairing its stunning cinematography with a slew of highly planned and thought-provoking visual metaphors. These metaphors play on both very obvious motifs of biblical and Greek origin along with the more subtle and purposeful use of color and camera angles. Among our favorite allegorical metaphors are the allusions to the Garden of Eden and the myth of Icarus. For the former, our beloved Oliver takes on the role of the snake, stealthily slithering into the lush estate of Saltburn, ridding it of its inhabitants only to be left alone in a true paradise. As for the latter, the pure, boyish Felix dons a pair of golden wings during Oliver’s birthday party and flies just close enough to the burning rage of Oliver’s obsession to be cast out of the sky, falling to his very literal death.

Upon rewatching, these metaphors played out so beautifully with the movie’s sinister plot and had me literally screaming and thrashing around in my seat. Circling back to the film’s cinematography, “Saltburn” begs you to get sucked in each shot with the rich, vivid swaths of light that bathe many scenes along with the leaning, awkward, painfully straining camera angles. We foamed at the mouth when the dining room flooded with red light as Felix’s body is carted away, and each time the camera pans through various reflections of Oliver that depict his slow descent into duplicity. Like Haley said throughout their viewings, absolutely every shot was a “beautiful shot”!

One of the most common criticisms we’ve seen about “Saltburn” is that it’s trying and failing to be an “eat the rich” story, but we disagree — that’s not at all what “Saltburn” is trying to get across. It was never about getting Saltburn to Oliver, it was about Felix. The way that the film treats the two of them makes it so abundantly clear that it was always about Felix. Even in Oliver’s big villain monologue at the end of the film, we’re unconvinced. “I wasn’t in love with him,” Oliver says, as we see shot after shot of the slope of Felix’s throat, his mouth, the beads of sweat on the nape of his neck. Anyone who believed that this was Oliver’s plan all along would’ve fallen for it in the first place! This film is not about greed! It’s about obsession.

Since the film’s debut, we have been slowly watching every single interview between the two doomed star-crossed lover boys and have absolutely been eating up their undeniable chemistry. We have especially been loving their red carpet appearances. Barry Keoghan has some amazing people styling him that has made the many queers that enjoyed this film do a double take, mistaking the man for a fit butch lesbian (honestly, I – Lora – need these stylists in my life). However, despite all of their Academy Award-worthy appearances, “Saltburn” was shockingly absent from any Oscar nominations. I mean, c’mon! Not even for cinematography? Best Film Editing? Actress in a Supporting Role? We’re flabbergasted. We really truly believe that this film is beautiful, and used in an extremely purposeful way! It’s honestly disrespectful. #notmyoscars, #saltburnSNUBBED.

Maybe one of the reasons that “Saltburn” was overlooked for Academy Awards was its… infamous reputation online. Everyone was AGHAST at the bathtub scene, as well as the grave scene. We heard one person say that anyone who was disappointed that the peach wasn’t eaten in “Call Me by Your Name” would love this movie, so we honestly went in expecting some truly salacious shenanigans. However, we were left feeling a bit underwhelmed in that department! All we can say is, if you were actually that shocked by the sex in this movie… clearly you’ve never been on AO3. There are some shenanigans, don’t get me wrong, but nothing that should’ve warranted the reactions we saw online. Y’all are too tame.

Overall, “Saltburn” is an absolutely beautiful cinematic experience in every sense of the word. It’s visually stunning and emotionally charged, with a superb cast and an excellent score. Add on the rewatchability, and you’ve got yourself a masterpiece. From us, “Saltburn” is getting an exceptional rating of 11/10 bodily fluids.