Saw this the other day. Although I didn't hate it, a lot of the decisions of characters don't make sense.

The movie heavily implies Oliver had a thing for Felix, but then his pursuit of Felix turns into murder and possession of his family estate because... reasons. I guess Felix wouldn't fuck him so he instead possessed him by taking over everything he had? I guess? It's a pretty looking movie but it's kinda dumb.

@cswood said:

Saw this the other day. Although I didn't hate it, a lot of the decisions of characters don't make sense.

The movie heavily implies Oliver had a thing for Felix, but then his pursuit of Felix turns into murder and possession of his family estate because... reasons. I guess Felix wouldn't fuck him so he instead possessed him by taking over everything he had? I guess? It's a pretty looking movie but it's kinda dumb.

Hi. I really enjoyed this movie. For me, it’s tied for first with Blue is the Warmest Color.

Using the scene with Oliver’s parents as additional context, I believe Oliver was never satisfied with his life from an early age. He had a deep desire to gain entrance into an elite social circle and was very envious of people such as Felix and his family.

He did love Felix after noticing him at school. Although, he was not really pursuing Felix. Felix was a person who had it all in Oliver’s mind: charisma, power over peers due to that charisma, and high status due to his family. This is what Oliver most wants, not necessarily to be with Felix romantically. He only knew him a few months, so his “love” is more infatuation.

Once Felix realizes Oliver lied about his family to be his friend, Oliver decides he has to kill Felix before anyone else finds out he is using this family to reach his personal goals. He knows he has to discredit Farleigh and begins to see that Venetia has come to understand his true intentions during that bathtub scene, so he decides to kill her before she turns her mother against him. As long as he maintains good standing with Elspeth, then he at worst gets a fair amount of money from Sir James to leave, and at best gets to come back to Saltburn if and when Sir James is not in the picture.

I hope this helps. Thanks for your comment :)

Well alright that makes sense.

My question is, assuming Felix didn't find out he was lying, what exactly was Oliver's first plan? He gets in with these rich people, but Felix seems to be hetero (granted I'm bad at picking up gay subtext). And Felix seemed to swap out friends like some people swap out phones. Killing these people and not getting caught, and then successfully convincing the mom to sign over her assets to him and then she dies from a sudden illness seems extremely unlikely unless the cops are just the flooded with morons.

Didn't hate the movie, but the plot was just a tad farfetched to me. But ultimately I think the biggest problem is I simply didn't like any of these people. If Oliver or his family had actually been negatively affected in some way by those people I'd better understand it. But his motivation is essentially wanted to be one of the awful rich people he clearly hates.

@cswood said:

Well alright that makes sense.

My question is, assuming Felix didn't find out he was lying, what exactly was Oliver's first plan? He gets in with these rich people, but Felix seems to be hetero (granted I'm bad at picking up gay subtext). And Felix seemed to swap out friends like some people swap out phones. Killing these people and not getting caught, and then successfully convincing the mom to sign over her assets to him and then she dies from a sudden illness seems extremely unlikely unless the cops are just the flooded with morons.

Didn't hate the movie, but the plot was just a tad farfetched to me. But ultimately I think the biggest problem is I simply didn't like any of these people. If Oliver or his family had actually been negatively affected in some way by those people I'd better understand it. But his motivation is essentially wanted to be one of the awful rich people he clearly hates.

His first plan was to get into Felix’s circle at school and gain popularity and ultimately connections. His plan was revised once he was invited to Saltburn to focus on Felix’s family especially once he noticed how they take care of those they care about. Then revised again upon being caught lying to be the last man standing. I think he was more opportunistic than planned out.

I agree there’s no clear indication Felix was bisexual or anything, which is partly why I don’t think Oliver was genuinely pursing a relationship there. I’m also not entirely sure Oliver can feel true love. I also agree that Elspeth suddenly getting “sick” and dying would certainly arouse suspicion. I figure either we just don’t see that play out with police looking into it as the movie ends right after her funeral, or we can assume Oliver now has substantial money and power with that money that could afford him options out of any legal matters. Is it far fetched that he would get Elspeth to sign everything over to him? Probably so. Unless these rich people are all such terrible people that she truly didn’t have any other true friends or anything to leave it to.

At its core, the movie is about how no one is truly “good”. All of these characters play nice sometimes and maybe do some good deeds, but they are ultimately selfish. They do toss friends away. They do help their friends, while simultaneously talking poorly of them as with poor dear Pamela. I would, therefore, make the argument that the fact that you didn’t like any of them is the point lol.

Don't think you need to look at the plot as realistic, this movie hinted multiple times that it is not a realistic thriller. For example, the complete lack of the cops and murder investigations. Because if this was a realistic movie, the last girl that was with Felix when Oliver interrupted them could be a crucial witness to indicate that Oliver was the last person to see Felix right in the same spot as his body was found. Or how the servants have no agency or influence over the family.

So no, this movie deals more with symbolism and ideas, less with plausible realistic plot. The rich family is representing something, the characters are personifications of specific concepts and stereotypes. It was clear that Oliver will use manipulations to get closer to Felix and take control over family members once he gets to the Saltburn. He planned to become a parasite and try to get as much as possible. The love he felt towards Felix was probably real, but it was more a psychotic obsession. So when Felix discovered his lies, Oliver understood that he will lose the host body and decided to evolve, and since he is seemingly a sociopath, his evolution is to murder. I think you can see on him that when he hears that Pamela died he is suddenly realizes that death of the people in this family is a valid option for him. Maybe that's the point in which he started to plan how to better manipulate them.

The movie reminded me The Talented Mr. Ripley, or its latest TV adaptation RIPLEY, which is a great TV miniseries. Same concept of a psycho sociopath that takes control over life of his victims. Although in RIPLEY the origins of the character are murkier and not clear. Overall, Saltburn is not bad but too long.