Saltburn

Firstly, I do want to obviously point out that yes, this is the new generation’s take on The Talented Mr Ripley. BUT this movie is so much more than that. Not only is it absolutely captivating and beautiful to watch, it also has a lot to say about society.  Oliver initially appears to be a character thrown from a lower class life into the disorientingly upper class Oxford, and as someone from a working class background who immediately encountered upper class classmates at university, I truly related to that dizzying experience. As the story progresses, we realise Oliver was not as lower class as he appeared, so why did he pretend to be? Simple, so that the upper class Felix would find him endearing. The upper class loves to infantilise working class people, exposing them to their lifestyle as if they are educating children on how to walk and talk, treating them as pet projects rather than real people. In order to enact his ‘eat the rich’ class fantasy, Oliver has to play the pauper, and so he does.  The film’s fixation on desire and eroticism also clues us in to Oliver’s motivation: he wants to consume and control these people, particularly in ways that directly contrast their extravagant lifestyles and expose the charade that they are ‘above’ such things (menstrual sex, dominating sexual acts, and… gamer girl bath water, I guess).  I could go on and on and on, but all of this is to say that this movie is a spectacular must see, and one of the most thought provoking films I have seen in a while.