Saltburn

Under the guise of a pschyosexual thriller, Emerald Fennell's second feature harbours a dark truth about class relations in Britain, and I ate it up. The film plays itself as making a commentary on one sort of class structure, and two thirds of the way through makes a choice I was so shocked by that reframed the entire film differently and made the commentary be so much more nuanced. (I'm not gonna spoil where the film goes but I could go on and on about the thematic implications)

I think it's weird this film is being branded as a thriller, if anything I would possibly call this a bad thriller, if it was simply viewed that way. I think this is far more of a dark comedy. Some of the biggest laughs of the year were had watching this film, it's steeped in comedy. I think Fennell uses this comedy to ease the audience into the film and makes it all the more uncomfortable once the story begins to unravel.

I think this film will work for anyone, but I think it will especially work for those who have witnessed this classism first-hand. Sounds strange to say as class structures are found in any country, but particularly in Britain, and even more specifically in world class British unis, classism informs nearly every relationship. This film captures how it feels to attend one of these unis, and the pressures faced by students who don't come from the insane amounts of wealth other students come from.

In regard to this, Elordi is able to embody the characters of wealth you meet at uni with such precision, it was so relatable. Give him all the noms for his unbelievable performance, from his pitch perfect accent to the ability to play a "nice guy" meanwhile the pity is crystal clear behind his eyes. I truly was enamoured by his performance (and honestly just by him).

Really though across the board the performances were outstanding. Rosamund Pike is a comedic genius, her line delivery and presence in her scenes was such a delight. I would be remised if I didn't also mention Barry Keoghan, who's more subdued and restrained performance really shines when he breaks free of this illusion. Also, wow Archie Madekwe, completely blew me away with his performance.

I have to commend Fennell on how she created a palpable sexual atmosphere in every scene. It's strange the sexual tension, and the horniness of the film is built so slowly, and in often non-sexual scenes and when the more explicit sexual scenes happen, they're often caveated with something that makes them more uncomfortable. In particular, one scene had the entire theatre audibly making noises of disgust.

I really loved this however, as it places you firmly in Keoghan's shoes, the slow build of lust and craving of Elordi, who the film has no problem showing in all his glory, only to flip in on its head and have the sexual gratification being in scenes which are disturbing, just absolutely genius.

It's an undeniable technical masterpiece also. Linus Sandgrid's stunning cinematography had me in awe for the majority of the film, the score perfectly captures the tone of the film, the production is just beautiful. I really loved this film, it shined in its simplicity, it knew what it was, and it was executed lovely. Also, Jacob Elordi is just so fucking sexy