Emerald Fennell seems to be making a name for herself as a filmmaker with a penchant for dark comedy-thrillers. PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, her directorial debut in 2020, copped five Oscar nominations with Fennell taking home one golden statuette for Best Original Screenplay. The film, though, had its share of detractors with many critics saying that the Fennell was less than successful in her execution of what was a great revenge-thriller premise. I would disagree but that same sentiment appears to be resurfacing with Fennell’s latest film, SALTBURN.

The time is 2006 and Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN; ETERNALS) arrives at Oxford to start his freshman year. Unlike the cool kids at the university who are there by birthright, Oliver is an introvert who got into the school on a need-based scholarship. Oliver’s attention quickly turns to Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi, PRISCILLA; THE KISSING BOOTH films), who is in one of his classes. Felix is everything that Oliver is not. He’s tall, handsome, rich, popular and has young women dripping off of him. A chance meeting between the two young men leads Felix to invite Oliver to stay at his parents’ home, known as Saltburn, over the summer break. Once there, Oliver meets Felix’s eccentric family including his parents, Sir James (Richard E. Grant, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?) and Lady Elspeth (Rosamund Pike, I CARE A LOT; RADIOACTIVE), and sister Venetia (Alison Oliver), as well as Elspeth’s friend, Poor Dear Pamela (Carey Mulligan, MAESTRO; PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN). Farleigh (Archie Madekwe, GRAN TURISMO), Felix’s American cousin and classmate at Oxford, whom Oliver also knows, is there too.

As this is a spoiler-free review, I’m going to be very careful about what I reveal here. I’ll start by saying that, like PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, SALTBURN is both wickedly funny and disturbingly dark. Fennell certainly doesn’t hold back by having her characters, and Oliver in particular, going where most directors wouldn’t dare venture. Some scenes are going to push viewers well out of their comfort zones but I give Fennell full marks for her bravery. The film’s closing scene is especially audacious and it’s debatable whether it was even necessary. I can think of a different way to close out the story so that it wouldn’t be as shocking but it also wouldn’t be as memorable.

SALTBURN has obvious similarities to THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY with Oliver’s obsession with Felix and his aristocratic lifestyle, so the question then becomes whether Fennell tells her twist on the story any better. In many ways, she does. Oliver is a more complex character than Ripley is, and that’s what makes him more devious and dangerous. Unlike Ripley, Oliver doesn’t have to kill everyone who stands in his way to get what he wants. He’s smart enough and resourceful enough to know that he can just manipulate people and situations to get himself closer to his ultimate objective. Unfortunately, Fennell falters in the second last scene where she reveals to us all the manipulations that Oliver did. This wasn’t necessary at all. All she needed to do was show us the first one and then let us figure out, or even speculate on, the rest.

Keoghan chalks up another brilliant performance here. The actor received a well-deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination last year for THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN but, not surprisingly, he lost out to the sentimental favourite Ke Huy Quan for EEAAO. This time around, he’ll definitely get a Best Actor nod for this film but he’ll probably have stiff competition coming from fellow Irishman Cillian Murphy for OPPENHEIMER and Bradley Cooper for MAESTRO. The best performance in SALTBURN, though, comes from Rosamund Pike. She has all the best lines and Lady Elspeth delivers them with a perfect combination of obliviousness and privilege.

SALTBURN is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video. I thoroughly enjoyed it but I can understand why some viewers would find some scenes too disturbing for their liking.

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