It’s Strange, It’s Scandalous, It’s “Saltburn” – Yes, We’re Gonna Talk About The Bathtub Scene
The current “it” movie is Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn and we are excited to unpack just why it’s captured the popular imagination. It features an all-star cast including Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi and everyone is talking about the wild ride this film takes us on – let’s get into it!
We start off following the shy and introverted Oliver Quick (Keoghan) who attends Oxford University with the wealthy and popular Felix Catton (Elordi). Oliver’s growing fascination with Felix takes a dark turn into obsession after he’s invited to Felix’s ancestral home for the summer break.
SPOILERS AHEAD: You’re telling me you wouldn’t take a sip of Jacob Elordi’s bath water?
We’ll start off by saying that only Jacob Elordi could resurrect the naughties eyebrow piercing and make it look sexy.
Anyways, Emerald Fennell has created a twisted, queer-coded film that takes aim at the upper class with Saltburn.
Also starring Rosamund Pike, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, Carey Mulligan and Richard E Grant, the story is set against the backdrop of the English countryside where summertime blooms and obsession festers.
The film follows Oliver’s dark scheming against the aristocratic Catton family at their home, called Saltburn. Attaching himself to Felix, Oliver quickly ingratiates himself with the family adapting to become what each of them desires. For the popular and out-of-touch Felix, he is a charity case and a connection to reality. For Felix’s sister Venetia, Oliver is a sexual plaything that worships her body (ie, the “period” scene). For patriarch Sir James, Oliver is a mystified outsider willing to awe at their privilege and wealth. Then, for mother Elspeth, Oliver is a handsome figure of intrigue and pity whom she can impress her nasty whims upon.
As the family begins to drop like flies, it becomes increasingly obvious that Oliver is far from the innocent he fashioned himself as. We discover that his backstory is nothing like the fiction he has created, and what initially appears to be a story of class disparity turns out to be about the perils of obsession.
The scenes of sexual deviance fit well into this grander narrative; they also become less about sex and more about power. Oliver drinking Felix’s cum-filled bath water and having sex with the fresh dirt on his grave illuminates his desire to consume Felix. Going down on Venetia and straddling Farleigh are given the context of being games of dominance. Even Oliver’s triumphant nude dance to Murder On The Dancefloor at the end of the film is a victory march, having won the game.
