Saltburn + Runny Eggs
Plus TikToks, The Crown, Sleaze Academia, Brit Marling, Gen Z Trend Cycles, and Jacob Elordi's Popsicles
Saltburn (2023) Film Flavor Review
Film Review: ★★★
Food Review: ★★½
Let’s get the introductions out of the way. Saltburn follows Oliver (Barry Keoghan) as he arrives at Oxford, attempts to make friends with his popular classmates, until finally one of them, Felix (Jacob Elordi) notices him. The pair become friendly, and after Oliver tells Felix his father has died and he has no where to go over summer break, Felix invites Oliver back to Saltburn, his family’s estate.
The family and staff at Saltburn aren’t as welcoming as Oliver expected, but the estate is so luxurious and ornate it’s more pornographic than any of the following sex scenes. Things turn sour after Oliver’s skeletons are revealed, and before you know it, he’s off his rocker and consuming bodily fluids left, right, and center.
The second feature film directed by actress and filmmaker Emerald Fennell (of Promising Young Woman, The Crown, The Danish Girl), Saltburn is overall an entertaining and thought-provoking watch. Beautifully shot on 35mm, the production design — the sets, props, costumes, prosthetics, makeup, and overall mis en scène — was a feast for the eyes. Even the opening title and credits sequence featured stunning illustrations (pictured above).
Unfortunately, the story may have bit off a bit more than it could chew. I’m not saying Fennell almost surely asked Chat GPT to find the hottest Gen Z media trends and then write a quick logline combing them all to kick off Saltburn’s writing process, but it does seem plausible.
A few trends + search terms Saltburn capitalizes on:
Indie Sleaze: If you’ve been on the internet the past few years you know the mid-aughts is BACK. You cannot tell me Saltburn’s Venetia, played admittedly well by Alison Oliver, isn’t at least inspired by Skins (UK, 2007) Cassie and Effy.
Sleaze Academia: An up-and-coming trend I am aware of now thanks to
, a trend forecasting mastermind.Gothic Thrillers with Body Grotesque: A la A24’s Midsommar and Lamb, Saltburn capitalizes on the trendy motif of blood, gore, and death shown in a voyeuristic and simplistic manner. Grotesque body genre literary russian
Black Comedies with Violence and Young People: (when I watched Saltburn on Amazon Prime, the service noted “people also watched” 2023’s Bottoms if that tells you anything. Also probably akin to Bodies Bodies Bodies )
Lush Production Design: Akin to other filmmakers who were in their prime from the mid-2000s to mid-2010s, like Sofia Coppola and even The Love Witch’s Anna Biller.
Eat The Rich: This isn’t really an “eat the rich” story but there’s literal eating of the rich, therefore still a play on this topic
80s/90s Erotic Thrillers: There’s not a doubt in my mind that Director Emerald Fennell is a keen viewer of films in this genre, including Cruel Intentions, Mulholland Drive, Eyes Wide Shut, Fatal Attraction. (I’ll even throw the clear influence of The Talented Mr.Ripley in here, though it’s not quite as erotic.) This influence does pair well with more modern, voyeuristic violence and shocking bodily fluid consumption shown in the film, but given the film is set in 2006/2007, it does start to feel like too many cooks were in the kitchen.
Greek Mythology + Shakespeare: The film isn’t shy about referencing the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, which you can read more about here. This myth is at play in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, which just so happens to be the theme of Oliver’s birthday party in the film, and leading to the lead characters dressing as deer and donkeys.
Shock Value: Even people who would never be interested in a film like this may hear about it on social media due to many people taking about three of the film’s most shocking scenes.
If you’re thinking this might be one too many themes to shove into a lone thriller movie, you’d probably be correct, because Saltburn’s end result was just a little too messy. By the end of the film, I was left thinking this could have been a better movie if it had even a fraction of these search-optimized moments and motifs at play.
The Eggs
To me, Saltburn is a story about an upper middle class young man who gets a taste of the ultra-wealthy and will stop at nothing until he has reached the top of the caste system himself. Without giving away too much, I’d be remiss to not mention the dreaded egg scene.
The first overt inkling we get of this malicious greed storyline comes in a scene where Oliver is ordering breakfast at the Saltburn estate. He asks the help for “a full English breakfast,” in a way that makes Oliver, a mere guest of this upper class family, seem a little too comfortable with his newfound luxuries. An awkward exchange ensues, resulting in Oliver ordering eggs “fried, over easy,” and then complaining that the eggs are too runny (which really irks me…. I’m a vegan but if I recall correctly aren’t over easy eggs supposed to be a little runny?!?) After rejecting the eggs not cooked to his liking, Oliver doesn’t seem to flinch at the silent judgement of others. It’s the first time we as the audience understand Oliver is starting to play a game.
By contrast, Jacob Elordi is rarely seen finishing his meal. The only things we see him consume to the fullest are cigarettes, bottles of alcohol, and popsicles by the pool.
If you’ll indulge me: Let me put on my Sherlock mind-palace cap and point out that popsicles are much lighter fare than eggs. Throughout Saltburn, Oliver desperately tries to suck this rich family dry, get their meat on his bones, so to speak. Yet those who have everything — in this case, Jacob Elordi’s Felix — have a devil-may-care attitude. He only needs to eat a popsicle every now and again because he knows, whenever he’s hungry, he’s always going to have access to a plate. The film climaxes with Felix taking this access to consumption a little too far.
A FOOTNOTE on TELEVISION
Last night, after I watched Saltburn, I watched the final two episodes of Netflix’s The Crown. Whilst that television show has chiefly morphed into positive propaganda on King Charles III’s behalf, I spotted an interesting parallel to Saltburn at play. In The Crown’s second to last episode, then Prince Charles says of Tony Blair, “Once people get a taste of life at the top, they never want to leave.”
In the context of The Crown, this parallels Charles’ desire to have his mother step down as reigning monarch and in favor of him taking the reigns. Yet it comes as no surprise to me that Emerald Fennel, who plays Charles’ then mistress Camila Parker Bowles, now Queen Camilla, in The Crown’s third and fourth seasons, wants to feature this societal critique in her films. As beloved TikToker Tasmin of
pointed out in a recent video, the class warfare at play in Saltburn does have a uniquely British spin.Interestingly, another popular television series of recent months, A Murder at the End of the World, stars Emma Corrin, the actress that plays Princess Diana on The Crown during the same seasons that Emerald Fennell was on warring for the same man. A Murder at the End of the World, the latest science fiction work by filmmaking duo Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij (The OA, Another Earth), is a more American-network-television-style critique of the same concept — a man at the top who wants to break through to the next level, even if at the expense of others. It, too, bites off far many more themes than in can chew.
(Of course, a gem principal actor of that show is Harris Dickinson, star of 2022’s Triangle of Sadness. That film has everything Saltburn wants but doesn’t have: clarity, disgusting bodily fluids that truly shock and actually have a purpose, sharp-as-a-knife criticism of the upper class and society’s caste structure, etc. etc. But I digress…)
Like I am with Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, I’m a much bigger fan of Emerald Fennell’s previous works, and I know if Hollywood continues to support and fund her, much more stunning films await us.
Until then, I’ll leave you with some of my favorite TikTok reviews of Saltburn:
Mina Le’s Take On Saltburn
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I am the biggest fan of Mina Le’s podcast High Brow and the new accompanying substack
. She’s intelligent and approachable on all things culture, fashion, and media literacy and she’s so much fun. Love her!Megan Cruz’s Take On Saltburn
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Megan, aka stoobs, is by far one of TikTok’s best creators of film content on TikTok working today. I don’t always agree with her takes, and we clearly have different takes, but she’s always worth my time.
Tamsin Wong’s Take On Saltburn
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I’ll leave you with the brilliant, previously mentioned Tasmin! Might I recommend giving the rest of her TikTok a watch? She’s a hoot and a half!
p.s. The Saltburn soundtrack slaps!
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I know the Golden Globes aired last night, and trust me, they will be addressed soon! Expect that + more food-in-film coverage next week, and Oscar’s content as it gets closer!
With Gratitude,
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