It’s time to look back at the dazzling, stylish and shocking cult film Saltburn (spoilers follow)…
2023 was a pretty interesting year in cinema. It may just be that we saw a turning point in audience tastes, with comic book films and franchise sequels mostly underperforming, whilst the grand success of Barbenheimer showed two things. In the case of Oppenheimer, it showed that audiences were open to sitting down and focusing on a three-hour film that demands attention. In the case of Barbie, it showed that a film could be aimed predominantly at the female demographic and succeed, rather than trying to pull that section over to films that only appeal to a minority, and only by writing in two-dimensionally infallible female protagonists.
As cynical box-ticking from Disney has shown, you only alienate your main audience and don’t succeed in attracting the demographic you’re trying to con (because audiences are wily). There’s a certain cult appeal to Barbie as far as its subsequent popularity in cosplaying etc but its gargantuan box office puts it firmly in the mainstream, as did the long-standing legacy of the toy lines that brought a pre-existing fandom to theatres.
Another film takes the undisputed crown of 2023’s cult film of the year and that is Saltburn. Almost from its initial brief theatrical run, prior to the Amazon debut, Saltburn was becoming the watercooler subject du jour. Word of a selection of unforgettably wild and for many, shocking moments in the film spread quickly and by the time the film had been out on streaming those jaw-dropping moments (all involving the leading star, Barry Keoghan) had been meme’d excessively.
The internet is filled with “if you know you know” memes aimed at those who have watched Saltburn, a film that from the outside looking in suggests a lavish and dazzling dramedy and not quite as intense a film as we get. The fact is, those who went in blind probably envisioned some wild antics up to a point but could never have guessed the turns the film took involving bathtubs, freshly dug graves and…well…innumerable other moments. Infamously, as a film that dropped on Amazon just prior to Christmas, families have sat down together to watch the film blissfully unaware of what’s about to have them reaching for the mind bleach.
Richard E. Grant pops up in a significant supporting role and is a man no stranger to the almost indefinable lure of distinct cult cinema (Withnail and I). His inimitable turn as Withnail in 1987 grew slower, as cult films tended to before the internet and streaming but the film is so uniquely quirky that it can be difficult for a fan to describe just why it hits such a sweet spot.
Whether Saltburn’s cult fandom endures quite like Withnail is another matter, but in an age where films enter the consciousness and exit before you’ve even got out of the cinema foyer post-film, it feels less disposable than other meme-heavy films of recent times. Something about this film just struck me as being a grower, something that’ll get better with every viewing, perhaps lure the indifferent with each new attempt or even turn haters into lovers.
Saltburn is no doubt divisive as the genesis of many cult films tend to have such a split. It’s a love-it-or-hate-it affair and those in between are a bewildered bunch unsure of their feelings. The film follows Oliver (Barry Keoghan), a poor student from Liverpool who arrives to study at Oxford University, filled with mostly highly privileged kids, in via nepotism, money or a combination of the two. The first section of the film sees Oliver settling into life as an outsider in a place of upper-crust snobbery and elitism, but managing to get in with one of the most popular students, Felix (Jacob Elordi) whose parents live at Saltburn Mansion.
The film undoubtedly has a nod or two to The Talented Mr Ripley and Theorem, and once we transfer from the hedonism of Oxford student life displayed in the film we come to Saltburn, a gleefully satirical depiction of the obscenely rich lives of aristocracy. Felix is fascinated by the tragic background of Oliver, as much for his lack of money as his painful “back story.” Oliver develops a growing adoration of Felix and his family that becomes obsessive and as his intensity grows, Felix finds himself growing tired of Oliver (his annual summer fascination it transpires).
Emerald Fennell’s film is gloriously stylish with incredible locations and production design. Further bolstered by incredible cinematography, shot in full frame that compliments the picturesque locales and the high ceilings of the mansion rooms. The music in the film is a mix of great score from Anthony Willis and a perfect soundtrack that makes particularly great use of Murder on the Dancefloor by Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
As for the shock factor, the film only serves as a good example of the boundaries of taste being pushed in star-name films these days. You might well expect it more from a filmmaker like Yorgos Lanthimos or Brandon Cronenberg, whose recent nightmarish horror, Infinity Pool definitely pushed the limits but film-makers aren’t afraid to get gross or explicit now.
The cast is uniformally stellar which is an element that always lends itself to cult cinema. Jacob Elordi cements his rise to A-list status with a great end to 2023 between this and Priscilla. The aforementioned Grant is superb as are Alison Oliver and Archie Madekwe. Rosamund Pike is magnificent in a role destined to snag an Oscar nomination. However, the showstopper here is an actor who just seems to have cult magnetism.
Barry Keoghan is arguably the most interesting performer of his generation and an actor capable of producing an incredible, often complex range. He’s vulnerable, quirky, intense, fearless and magnetic. He’s an explosion of conflicting emotions, brimming below an enigmatic surface. The young up-and-comer so thrilling in The Killing of a Sacred Deer has been firing out sensational and eclectic performances since that Hollywood breakthrough, with one deserved Oscar nomination under his belt already for The Banshees of Inisherin (a film where he was so incredible during one particular scene, he was impossible not to nominate). Here’s hoping he continues to take on a nice array of roles but more importantly that the lure of blockbuster money doesn’t see him waste himself on two-dimensional material.
Keoghan’s rise to becoming a leading man has certainly been a once-in-a-generation defiance of convention. He fell into it without any friends or family in high places, or any training from the kinds of schools most casting directors in the UK look for ahead of any other metric. Just pure natural talent which has developed and been honed with every new role until that point in time Keoghan’s ability to steal a movie (see The Green Knight) became such that the only logical option was to make him the main man. Yet while he’s fairly diminutive and not what they’d have historically called movie star pretty, you cannot take your eyes off Keoghan.
Meanwhile, the prospect of Fennell’s follow-up to an impressive double hit of Promising Young Woman and Saltburn is exciting but as far as culty movies that leave your jaw upon the floor, the latter is going to be almost impossible to match. The fact is, with cinema often so disposable and audiences in the streaming era so willing to dispose of films like they’re a festival plastic beer cup, cult films seem increasingly rare. Films don’t often get discovered years after the fact and the secret to having a cult film, like Mandy or Terrifier 2 is to be almost instantaneously adopted by a core of cult fans who help a film spread and grow.
What do you think of Saltburn? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth or hit me up @jolliffeproductions…
