WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Saltburn.
Saltburn has proven to be one of the most talked about and rewatched movies of 2023 and has continued to fascinate audiences into the new year. Written and directed by Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman), Saltburn is rich with hidden literary and historical references, exceptional acting from a picture-perfect cast, and, most notably, carries some of the most shocking cinematic scenes in recent memory. That being said, there are still quite a few plot holes and headscratchers that arguably prevent the breakout hit from becoming a serious contender during the 2024 Awards season.
Fennell drew much inspiration from Gothic literary dramas and cited works such as The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley (1953) and Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938). There are also several visual and thematic links to Stanley Kubrick films such as A Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Shining (1980), as well as obvious narrative allusions to Cruel Intentions (1999) and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). There are also several references to Shakespeare and Greek mythology. While the hidden details and references in Saltburn are seemingly endless, they do well to distract from some clear timeline plot holes and subtle moments that arguably don’t add up.
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10 Farleigh Never Returns To Saltburn After Catton Family Deaths
One of the biggest plot holes in Saltburn is the complete removal of Farleigh from the Catton family tree following Felix’s death. While it’s clear that Ollie successfully frames Farleigh for supplying the drugs that Felix ultimately overdosed on, it’s surprising that after all that time Farleigh wouldn’t have tried to save face with James or Elspeth. He even tells Ollie on the night of Felix’s death that he always finds a way to come back to Saltburn. It seems more than likely that Farleigh would have tried to reinsert himself with the Cattons at some point or, at the very least, as soon as he heard of Ollie’s inheritance.
9 Ollie Pulling The Intubation Tube Out Of Elspeth Is Incriminating
Ollie kills Elspeth by dramatically pulling the intubation tube out of her body, forcing her to choke and perish. A major plot hole in this scenario is how Ollie got away with doing that with the presumed highly intelligent doctors that Elspeth likely would have hired. What could Ollie’s excuse possibly have been for yanking the yard-length tube out of Elspeth that would be believable to any rational person? Ollie might have tried to reinsert the tube once Elspeth was dead but it would theoretically raise a lot of suspicion about how Elspeth actually died.
8 Lack Of Police Investigations Into Felix & Venetia’s Deaths
Saltburn makes the point of James and Elspeth’s denial to face the truth of Felix’s death, particularly because they believe it was an accidental overdose. They likely jump right back into their typical daily affairs to avoid confronting the shame they had of their son ODing, more concerned about what that news would mean for their public image than they cared about discovering the truth about Felix’s death. The same goes for Venetia, whose death Olle frames as a suicide. However, it’s hard to imagine that James and Elspeth would have been so in denial as to not have allowed police involvement, or that the police would not have investigated further the back-to-back deaths of a famous family’s heirs.
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7 Ollie Realizes Felix Is Driving To His Parents’ House Hours Later
Felix tells Ollie that he is surprising him with a road trip but ends up traveling to Ollie’s parents’ house, which in reality would have taken about 6 hours to get to. Ollie appears to not have realized Felix’s plan until they arrive in his parents’ neighborhood, which doesn’t seem plausible considering how perceptive and intelligent Ollie secretly is. It’s possible that Ollie is so deep within his manipulative persona that he isn’t able to emotionally access his true anxiety about his parents in order to save face. Whatever the reason, it takes Ollie much longer than it reasonably should have to discover Felix’s plan.
6 James Catton’s Cause Of Death Is Never Explicitly Identified
One of the biggest mysteries in Saltburn is how James Catton actually dies. His obituary reads that he died in 2022, some 15 years after Ollie had been paid by James to leave Saltburn and never return, which appeared to be how he got rid of his previous guests such as Pamela. The newspaper that Ollie reads when he discovers James’ death reports that James “died suddenly” and that he “was never the same after the family tragedy.” Elspeth also tells Ollie during their “impromptu” café reunion that she was surprised “it took him this long”, all but saying that James died by suicide.
5 Elspeth Claims She Was Friends With ‘90s Britpop Bands As A Mother
Following Farleigh’s first exit from Saltburn, James and Elspeth join the “kids” by the pool as Elspeth reminisces on her party days with famous ’90s Britpop bands such as Blur and Oasis back when she was a model. While this certainly could have taken place, the timing of Elspeth’s claimed ordeal with these bands means that Felix and Venetia would have both been young children and that Elspeth would have been a new mother. Based on her age and the timing of her children’s births, it’d be more likely that she had gone to these parties during the 1980s.
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4 James & Felix Are Watching Superbad When Ollie Arrives At Saltburn
One notable timeline hiccup in Saltburn is when James and Felix are watching Superbad in the Saltburn library ahead of its theatrical release. The scene takes place in May or June of 2007 while Superbad wasn’t released until September of that year in the UK, with the DVD first becoming available in December. Fennell has addressed this apparent error, saying that Elspeth had been friends with someone at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who gave her an advanced screener of the celebrated comedy film.
3 Nobody Else Attempts To Claim Saltburn After Elspeth’s Death
The most shocking detail in Ollie’s acquisition of Saltburn, outside of his three Catton family murders, is the fact that nobody protests Ollie’s inheritance or makes a claim to Saltburn following Elspeth’s death. For a family with such a rich history and extreme wealth, the world of the Catton family must be incredibly insular if Ollie, who is still pretty much a stranger to Elspeth, is the first person she thinks of to write over her entire estate to. How could Elspth not have dozens, if not hundreds, of other people, family members, and friends that she had known her whole life who could be considered to inherit Saltburn?
2 Farleigh Doesn’t Accuse Ollie Of Sending Email To Sotheby’s
It seems like as an extended family member of the Cattons, Farleigh would have a lot more power and sway than he does toward the latter half of the film. First, he is kicked out of Saltburn by Elspeth for allegedly trying to sell fancy plates to Sotheby’s, which Ollie is later revealed to have framed him for. The fact that Farleigh, who has known Elspeth his entire life, doesn’t have a moment to tell her about Ollie coming into his bedroom the night before feels shortsighted. Further, Farleigh is once again banished from Saltburn and never reemerges to raise suspicion of Ollie’s inheritance, which is odd, especially considering that Farleigh sees right through him the entire movie.
1 Ollie Caused Elspeth To Fall Into A Coma, But How?
Another Saltburn headscratcher pertains to how Elspeth fell terminally ill and became comatose. It’s more than likely that Ollie was behind it somehow, but to pull off such an operation only to have it not be explained in the movie feels somewhat forced and unearned. It’s not surprising that Ollie kills Elspeth once she writes over her entire estate to him, but the fact that he gets away with it, without police intervention, disputes from Farleigh, or rival claims to Saltburn from various friends and family, feels farfetched by the story’s end.
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
- Rating
- R
- Runtime
- 131 Minutes
- Genres
- Comedy , Thriller
- Writers
- Emerald Fennell
- Studio(s)
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , MRC , LuckyChap Entertainment , Lie Still
- Distributor(s)
- Amazon MGM Studios
