"Saltburn" [Philadelphia Film Festival 2023]: A wild, lusty, delectably twisted "Talented Mr. Ripley" for the mid-2000s crowd

Saltburn (2023)

Emerald Fennell already showcased a provocative voice with her Oscar-winning 2020 directorial feature debut, “Promising Young Woman,” which was viciously confrontational, sobering, and wickedly funny. No sophomore slump, “Saltburn” is today’s kinkier answer to “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” It’s wild, bitchy, lusty, and delectably twisted, distinguished by an exceptionally talented cast, Fennell’s biting script, and her stylish direction.

Barry Keoghan plays Oliver, a scholarship boy in his first year at Oxford University during the mid-2000s. From afar, he admires another student, the sexy and privileged Felix (Jacob Elordi), whose life couldn’t be easier. As Oliver falls in with Felix and his crew, he ingratiates himself into getting invited for an allegedly “relaxed” summer at Saltburn, Felix’s aristocratic family’s sprawling, lavish country estate. There, Oliver is welcomed in open arms by Felix’s mother, Elspeth (played with perfect, deliciously cutting delivery by Rosamund Pike), and father, Sir James (an equally hilarious Richard E. Grant). Then there’s also Felix’s stylish, perpetually drunk sister Venetia (Alison Oliver), who might be on to Oliver more than her vapid demeanor suggests, as is their catty, suspicious queer cousin Farleigh (Archie Madekwe). Everyone is casually cruel and planning parties all of the time, while Oliver keeps longing for Felix, or maybe to be Felix. Is it infatuation or jealousy? Is Oliver being honest with anyone? Is it better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody? Just ask Tom Ripley. 

It’s possible that “Saltburn” begins as one thing and deceptively morphs into something else, but that something else has always been in motion. It all starts with this: do we buy that anyone would be this enamored with Felix? Yes, yes, we do. With Felix being played by the alluring Jacob Elordi, we can’t really blame Oliver. Barry Keoghan has to play different versions of Oliver, depending on who he’s with and what he needs from them. Even as the actor has a face for playing a character who’s dangerous or strange or both (and apparently into manipulating and splitting families apart), Keoghan is quite beguiling and fearlessly weasels into the headspace of this enigma. Pike, Grant, Oliver, and Madekwe are all excellent, finding vulnerability within their acerbic asides. Carey Mulligan is also very funny in only a couple of scenes as a vapid houseguest, credited as “Poor Dear Pamela,” who’s long overstayed her welcome. Read the full review at GuyAtTheMovies.com

Grade: A -

"Saltburn" (127 min.) screened at the Philadelphia Film Festival. Amazon MGM Studios released the film on November 17, 2023.