Saltburn (2023) movie review

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Star – Barry Keoghan My Rating ** Genre – Drama Run Time – 131 minutes Certificate – 18 Country – U.K Awards – 3 Wins & 6 nominations = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = So Saltburn, the most talked about British move of the winter so far, mainly because of some perverted sexual scenes but also its meticulous study of the British class system. It’s from excellent female director Emerald Fennel, she of TV show Killing Eve and the even more controversial feminist film journey, Promising Young Woman. The Class system in England is not very flexible and different to, say the American one. If middle-class parents have kids they are middle-class kids by right here. If upper class has kids they are upper class by right. Some working class people, who get educated, can become middle class but over two of three generations because the true middle-class don’t want them anywhere near them or their kids so stifle them at every turn. There is very little movement here from the middle-class to the landed upper-class and money certainly doesn’t buy you a place in the next class up. The middle-class parent works very hard to make sure their kids produce more of the same. The working class tends not to aspire and know their place. University is the best example of the middle-class in action, the setting here. Working class kids here tend to be much smarter than their uppers when they reach those red brick universities though. ===The Plot=== In late 2006, lower middle-class scholarship student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) from a small English market town struggles to fit in at the prestigious University of Oxford, the hierarchy there dominated by the upper-class. He befriends Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), an affluent and popular student who is sympathetic to Oliver's tall tales of his parents' substance abuse and mental health issues and so takes him under his wing. When Oliver concocts another story of his father’s sudden death to gain more sympathy, Felix comforts him and invites him to spend the summer holiday at his family's country house, Saltburn. Oliver meets Felix's eccentric parents Sir James (Richard E.Grant) and Lady Elspeth (Rosamund Pike), his coquettish and sexy sister Venetia (Alison Oliver), and Elspeth's friend Pamela (Carey Mulligan) as well as Felix's American cousin Farleigh (Archie Madekwe), another one Oliver has struggled to like at university. Oliver wins over Felix's rather vacuous family, and grows an obsession with Felix. Some perverted acts follow as Oliver embraces middle class life and depravity with gusto as the summer draws on. But tragedy is just around the corner… The Cast=== • Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick • Jacob Elordi as Felix Catton • Rosamund Pike as Lady Elspeth Catton, Felix's mother • Richard E. Grant as Sir James Catton, Felix's father • Alison Oliver as Venetia Catton, Felix's sister • Archie Madekwe as Farleigh Start, Felix's cousin • Carey Mulligan as "Poor Dear" Pamela, Elspeth's friend • Paul Rhys as Duncan, Saltburn's butler • Ewan Mitchell as Michael Gavey, Oliver's friend at college • Sadie Soverall as Annabel • Millie Kent as India ===Results=== When critics start babbling on about a movie this time of the year that they say is really really good it generally means it’s not that good and the general public agree. Films like this and The Holdovers etc are hyped up as smart witty Oscar chasers but when you watch them they are bland and boring. Saltburn is not that funny, clever or engaging. Its version of Britain’s upper middle class as thick, decadent and vacuous is a bit unfair and presented as that to try and generate more jokes with most falling flat to me. The lead guy nails that sort of Oxbridge impostor thing but he is an odd looking actor and that somehow detracts. The whole Oliver /Felix thing doesn’t work at all and nor do his lies to set up the obvious twist, and the films homoerotic undertones are a bit lazy by the female award winning director. Yes it looks good and captures the idyllic privilege of England’s landed class but the film just drags on to that obvious conclusion and, when Oliver is found out for his deception, so is the movie and I lost interest at that point. Overrated and underwhelming for me but it’s up to you. ===RATINGS=== Imdb.com – 7.1/10.0 (121k votes) Rottentomatos.com –61% critic’s approval Metacritic – 71% ===Trailer=== https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17351924/