Warning: The next article comprises spoilers for the ending of Saltburn.
Saltburn, one of many buzziest movies of 2023, has continued to trigger a stir within the New Yr following its latest arrival on streaming and its nomination for 2 Golden Globe awards.
Directed by Emerald Fennell, the psychosexual thriller spawned a number of viral moments (we’ll by no means have a look at bathtubs the identical manner once more) and included sufficient eyebrow-raising moments to depart viewers with some lingering, and admittedly troubling, questions.
For individuals who want a refresher, Saltburn follows the friendship (or love story) between Oliver Fast and Felix Catton, two Oxford College college students performed by Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi, respectively. After a meet-cute on the campus grounds, the uber-wealthy Felix invitations Oliver to his household’s luxurious property for the summer time, the place some questionable antics (and a razor-sharp flip from Rosamund Pike) naturally ensue.
How precisely does Felix’s story come to an finish, and what’s Oliver’s position within the Catton household’s premature demise? Closing warning: Spoilers inbound!
What occurred to Felix in Saltburn?
After changing into quick associates at college, Felix invitations Oliver to the Catton household’s sprawling countryside property, eponymously referred to as Saltburn. Oliver receives the invitation after sharing information of his parental woes with Felix, telling his new good friend that his father has died and that his mom suffers from alcohol and drug habit.
After arriving at Saltburn, the Catton household take pity on Oliver, each due to his father’s supposed loss of life and his lower-class standing. Oliver’s infatuation with Felix reaches progressively questionable ranges, to the purpose that he voyeuristically watches Felix take a shower and sexually pursues Felix’s sister, Venetia.
Aside from Oliver’s secretly sinister behaviour whereas luxuriating at Saltburn, all seems to be going swell for the Cattons throughout their summer time trip. That’s, till Oliver’s birthday, when Felix surprises him with a go to to Oliver’s dad and mom’ home in Preston. It’s there that each Felix and the viewers be taught of Oliver’s deceit, because the pair arrives on the Fast family to search out each dad and mom alive and nicely — a far cry from the story of habit and loss of life Oliver had beforehand instructed Felix.
The pair’s relationship deteriorates from there, with Felix asking Oliver to depart Saltburn as soon as Oliver’s party has completed. On the get together, Oliver tries to apologise to Felix a number of occasions, chasing him across the property earlier than lastly confronting him in a yard hedge maze. There, an inebriated Oliver confesses his love for Felix, who once more rejects him earlier than taking a swig from a bottle of alcohol Oliver fingers him.
The following morning, the Catton household awakes to search out that Felix is lacking they usually feverishly search the mansion till they discover their son useless on the middle of the hedge maze. Audiences later be taught that Oliver had not solely poisoned Felix with a drugged alcohol bottle, however had plotted all the Catton household’s loss of life ever since his meet-cute with Felix at college.
After a very bewildering graveyard scene at Felix’s funeral (severely, it defies rationalization) every member of the Catton household dies, with Oliver both immediately concerned — as was the case for Felix — or suspiciously near the deaths. Viewers be taught in a closing monologue that Oliver handed razor blades to a vulnerable Ventia, who later dies by suicide, and that he additionally withdrew a ventilator from an ailing Elspeth Catton (Pike), which results in her suffocation.
All of it, Oliver later tells us, was a plot to safe the Saltburn property for himself. With no members of the family left — the Catton patriarch, Sir James (performed by Richard E. Grant) dies off display screen — Elspeth indicators away her wealth and the countryside property to Oliver, who later revels within the success of his eat-the-rich scheme with a unadorned dance by Saltburn within the closing scene.
Oliver’s closing monologue is essential in unveiling his plot, which noticed him deliberately pursue Felix from the beginning, orchestrating all of their interactions and securing an invite to Saltburn to later turn out to be its successor. Whereas the movie’s messaging has been considerably divisive amongst critics (since it’s the middle-class Oliver who’s the true villain), Salburn makes one factor clear: all the time verify your environment earlier than taking a shower.