Carey Mulligan’s tattoos in Saltburn have a much deeper meaning, as detailed by the movie’s make-up artist Siân Miller. The second film written and directed by Emerald Fennell after Promising Young Woman, Saltburn follows Oliver (Barry Keoghan), an Oxford student who is invited by his classmate Felix (Jacob Elrodi) to spend the summer at his family’s eponymous estate. The Saltburn cast also includes Carrey Mulligan playing the small role of Pamela, a close friend of Felix’s mother Elspeth (Rosamund Pike), who is also staying at the estate.
In an interview with Harper’s BAZAAR, Miller opened up about the deeper meaning behind Pamela’s tattoos in Saltburn. The movie’s make-up artist hand-drew all the tattoos or, as she calls them, “Easter eggs,” and explains that Pamela’s tattoos of “playing cards, dice and a horseshoe” represent that “she’s so unlucky in love.” Read Miller’s full explanation below:
On Pamela we had playing cards, dice and a horseshoe, because she’s so unlucky in love… We just had a lot of fun.
Saltburn Ending Explained: What Really Happened To Felix
The ending of Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn is built on a web of lies spun by Oliver Quick and reveals the twisted layers of his obsession with Felix.
Carey Mulligan’s Saltburn Tattoos Explained
As Miller mentions, Pamela has tattoos of playing cards, dice, and a horseshoe, which represent that she is “unlucky in love.” In the film, Pamela is staying at Saltburn to hide from her dangerous ex-boyfriend, a Russian billionaire she met in rehab. However, after Elspeth grows tired of her presence, Pamela leaves Saltburn, and the Catton family soon learns that she died under mysterious circumstances. Pamela’s death is ruled an apparent suicide, though it’s suggested she was murdered by her Russian billionaire boyfriend who had been staging similar suicides involving his business associates.
Furthermore, Miller added the word “lucky” inside Pamela’s horseshoe tattoo as a reference to LuckyChap, the production company behind Saltburn. Co-founded by Margot Robbie and her husband Tom Ackerley, LuckyChap also produced Fennell’s feature debut, Promising Young Woman, which won her an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The 2020 film also earned Mulligan an Oscar nomination for her lead role as the titular troubled woman seeking revenge against those who wronged her.
Pamela also has a tattoo referencing her past relationship with a rock star. As Miller explains, the character “came of age on the music scene dating rock stars,” which explains Pamela’s tattoo that reads “R-ash,” a reference to Richard Ashcroft, the lead singer of The Verve. Since Pamela has so little screen time in Saltburn, it’s Mulligan’s unforgettable performance, combined with her carefully curated costuming and makeup, that makes her one of the movie’s most compelling characters.
Saltburn
Written and directed by Emerald Fennell, Saltburn is a 2023 comedy-thriller film. When Oxford student Oliver Quick is invited to his friend Felix’s family’s wealthy estate, Saltburn, for a summer vacation, he is drawn into the world of eccentric characters and increasingly chaotic events as his obsession with Felix comes to a head.
- Release Date
- November 17, 2023
- Director
- Emerald Fennell
- Cast
- Barry Keoghan , Jacob Elordi , Rosamund Pike , Richard E. Grant , Alison Oliver , Archie Madekwe , Carey Mulligan
- Runtime
- 131 Minutes
- Writers
- Emerald Fennell
- Studio(s)
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , MRC , LuckyChap Entertainment , Lie Still
- Distributor(s)
- Amazon MGM Studios
