By Lexie Dykes

The new psychosexual, gothic thriller Saltburn is newly released in the UK. What can we expect from the trailer and number of clips released already?

Directed by Emerald Fennell, winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for her ‘rape-revenge satire’ Promising Young Woman (2021), Saltburn centres around Oliver, a student at Oxford University, played by Academy Award nominee Barry Keoghan. He befriends posh boy Felix (played by Jacob Elordi), who miserably fails to appear edgy, which, in true form to the film’s 2006 setting, he attempts with an eyebrow piercing. This premise alone gives me notes of The Riot Club (2014). From what we know, Oliver is having family problems and, after encountering Felix with a broken bike and offering him his own, is invited to stay with him over the holidays in his grand manor of a house. This leads him into a world far from everything he or anyone else knows. From this point, although specific details of the plot have been effectively concealed by trailers, we can guess that it masses into a mess of wealth, horror, sex and violence. I’m intrigued to see what Saltburn has to say about money, gender and familial and romantic relations. British icons Rosamund Pike, Carey Mulligan and Richard E. Grant make up the supporting cast, a promising sign in my opinion.

This film, its concept, plot, characters and themes, feel very well established in the heritage of cinematic and literary thrillers. Much of the popular discourse prior to its release has drawn on various sources believed to have influenced Fennell. The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) is an obvious point of comparison and, with the theme of tense new friendship and angsty shots of Elordi smoking in English country fields, I’m absolutely sure this film will share its searing homo-erotic atmosphere throughout. Fennell has also mentioned L.P. Hartley’s The Go Between, a tragic story about a boy who goes to stay with his wealthy friend over the holidays, exploring what it means to lose innocence and gain experience, and Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited as sources of inspiration. Clearly wealth and disparity is at the heart of Saltburn and these other pieces, and for that reason F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby must have been of interest for Fennell also. In the trailer, it’s clear that several of the film’s events circle around a giant Gatsby-esque, Alice in Wonderland kind of party that is shot with neon flood lights and underscored by electronic music giving this exploration into aristocracy a terrifying Euphoria (2019 – present) feel.

From what we can see, the set and costume design are gorgeous and lavish, using a vivid palette of saturated, bold primary colours that give the film a sickly camp aesthetic. In one shot, we see a character with a horse’s head over them, and Keoghan wearing a deer antlers headpiece. I know I’m going to love reading this giant, animalistic fancy dress party as a series of hunting symbols to analyse. I’m also excited to track the gothic themes of the film, as it centres around the typical gothic big house, and there is a keen possibility of getting lost in every sense.

None of this is to say that I think this film is ripping anything or anyone off. In fact, I think the feeling that I have almost seen this film before and can guess where it goes is incredibly interesting and is a conscious choice by Fennell. A key tenet of the gothic in the arts is the uncanny, including the phenomena of doubling and déjà vu; I think that this curious layering of sources will allow us to think hard about what these sorts of stories mean, what they make us think of, and why they are so embedded in our cultural consciousness. Although I have been predicting what will happen, I hope Saltburn manages to subvert my expectations in some way, even if this is by tackling the genre itself with a satirical angle. If it doesn’t manage to do this, I’m sure impressive performances from a stacked cast, an unsettling soundtrack, quirky cinematography and intriguing characterisation will make for a stimulating, trippy watch anyway.

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