WARNING! This article contains major spoilers for Saltburn (2023)!
Oliver Quick’s lies and twists are foreshadowed on several occasions in Saltburn, including in a key moment with Felix before arriving at the titular estate. During Saltburn’s twist ending, Oliver reveals to a sick Elspeth that he lied about his troubled upbringing, killed Felix and Venetia, and conned his way into inheriting the Catton family’s Saltburn estate. However, Oliver was lying to Felix long before his cunning plan turned him into a killer, as it was the lies about his father’s death, mother’s addiction, and traumatizing home life that originally led Felix to invite Oliver home for the summer.
Shortly before Oliver kills Felix, serving as Saltburn’s first major death in Oliver’s twisted plan, Jacob Elordi’s character discovers the truth on a surprise trip to the Quick family’s home. Based on Oliver’s descriptions, Felix expects to visit Oliver’s mother in a house that’s a “mess” rather than the quiet, upper-middle-class home he finds. On the visit, Felix also discovers that Oliver’s father is alive, meaning the character has been lying the entire time. Though the reveal of Oliver’s family and home life is a shock, Saltburn gives a major clue to Oliver’s deception much earlier in the movie.
Oliver Never Threw The Rock For His “Dead” Father In The River
While still at Oxford, Felix and Oliver stand by a river and the former suggests a healing tactic his family uses to cope with the death of a loved one. Felix elaborates that the Cattons have a tradition where they write the name of the dead on a stone and throw it into a river to make them feel better. Oliver obliges, but he only writes “dad” rather than his father’s actual name, and the death stone ultimately lands on the bank of the river instead of in the water. Felix mentions that the rock failing to hit the water “can’t be good,” but it never mattered because Oliver’s father was never dead.
Oliver failing to complete the Cattons’ tradition for the dead was a significant clue that his father was still alive, as the other characters who really died in Saltburn had their rocks hit the water. Additionally, with Oliver only writing “dad” on the rock rather than his actual name, Jeff, it seems Oliver was trying to hide his father’s identity from Felix. If Felix knew Jeff Quick’s name, he could have done some research early on to try to find out how he died and thus catch Oliver in his lie.
Oliver Collecting The Catton Family’s Rocks In Saltburn’s Ending Reveals His True Intentions
The symbolism of the rocks bearing the dead’s names returns in Saltburn’s ending, after the Catton family has died and Oliver takes over the estate. Following Elspeth, James, Venetia, and Felix’s deaths, Oliver swims to retrieve their rocks from the bottom of the water. He then puts the stones atop a box in the home, seemingly displaying them as twisted trophies from his conquest to commemorate his kills and remember the wealthy family he took down. However, there seems to be another reason for Oliver keeping the rocks rather than just as souvenirs for his kills.
Oliver & Farleigh’s First Saltburn Scene Secretly Told You The Twist Ending
An early scene at Oxford between Oliver and Farleigh foreshadowed what would become of Felix and the Catton family in Saltburn’s ending.
The Catton family’s stones at the end of Saltburn also appear to represent a way for Oliver to memorialize the characters. It seems Oliver didn’t originally intend to kill the Cattons until Felix and Venetia threatened to turn on him, as his initial goal was to become one of them rather than destroy them. However, he ultimately realized that he couldn’t keep Saltburn while the others survived. By removing their rocks from the water, Oliver reverses the tradition that helps the Catton family move on from the dead, thus symbolically keeping them alive with him inside Saltburn forever.
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
