The Talented Mr. Ripley for the cool kids. Emerald Fennell’s follow-up, as writer and director, to Promising Young Woman, Saltburn is another stylishly glib exercise, entertaining and engagingly acted until the bottom falls out. Barry Keoghan—he of the punched, scrunched face—gives a surprisingly sympathetic turn for much of the film, given the creepers he’s mostly played in the past (The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Green Knight, The Banshees of Inisherin). Here he plays Oliver Quick, a shy student on scholarship at Oxford University who is befriended by popular party boy Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi, last seen as Elvis in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla). Felix invites Oliver to spend the summer at his family estate, Saltburn, with his daft parents (Richard E. Grant and Rosamund Pike), insatiable sister (Alison Oliver), and another hanger-on from school (Archie Madekwe). All but Felix seem to be slightly out of their minds, but should Oliver be afraid of them or should they be afraid of him? Every performance clicks—Keoghan has a great little moment where Oliver attempts to take a swig of a bottle of vodka, but hits his nostril before his mouth—but to what end? Saltburn abruptly shifts gears once the Keoghan creeps out, turning into a series of increasingly outré setpieces. What was a clever psychological thriller rooted in real relationships gets launched into outlandish fantasy territory, including a final 20 minutes or so that pack in a full film’s worth of twists. Do stay for the musical coda, however. For that, Keoghan deserves your admiration and respect.
(11/29/2023)