Throughout Saltburn, Oliver (Barry Keoghan) can be seen hugging his knees at different moments, and it could all be part of his big plan. Emerald Fennell’s black comedy thriller Saltburn quickly made it into the best movies of 2023 and continues to be quite popular after its arrival in the world of streaming. Set in 2006, Saltburn follows Oliver Quick, a scholarship student at the University of Oxford who struggles to blend in with his upper-class classmates… until he meets Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi).
Felix is a wealthy and popular student at Oxford who takes Oliver under his wing, especially after learning of Oliver’s family backstory of substance abuse and mental health issues. Felix then invites Oliver to spend the summer at his family’s country house, Saltburn, where Oliver gradually sets his real plans into motion. Saltburn has various twists, turns, and shocking reveals, but it’s also full of small details and Easter eggs that hint at those surprising moments, among them Oliver sitting hugging his knees at different points throughout the movie.
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.
Oliver Hugging His Knees Was Part Of His Ruse In Saltburn
Oliver had everything carefully planned.
When viewers meet Oliver, he’s a shy student with no friends at Oxford and who is also very limited when it comes to money, so much so that he can’t pay for the drinks at the bar. Oliver’s body language reflects his struggles throughout Saltburn, as seen in how he sits hunched hugging his knees, as if he was protecting himself. This can be seen at some key moments throughout Saltburn, such as when he’s in Felix’s bedroom telling him that his mother called to tell him that his father had died. Oliver is very vulnerable at that moment, and he is later shown hugging his knees at Saltburn.
Oliver is in this position while on the lawn next to Felix as he and Venetia talk about what happened to Farleigh, who was revealed to have tried to sell some of Felix’s father’s valuables. Later on, Oliver is revealed to have planned to destroy the Catton family to take possession of Saltburn and their wealth, and those moments where he sits hugging his knees appearing vulnerable and helpless are part of his ruse. Oliver’s father wasn’t dead and he didn’t come from a family with substance abuse disorder and mental health issues, nor did he come from a poor family.
Farleigh’s downfall was also part of Oliver’s plan, and it started by framing him for trying to sell some of his uncle’s valuables. Oliver appeared to not know what was happening with Farleigh and covered himself to better sell the idea, when in reality, he was the one responsible for all the disasters at Saltburn.
The 1 Time Oliver Was Genuinely Anxious In Saltburn
Oliver wasn’t counting on Felix’s own plans.
While Oliver uses this position of hugging his knees as part of his disguise, there is one moment in Saltburn where he also does this, though now as a genuine anxiety reaction. A couple of days before Felix’s big birthday party, Felix surprises Oliver with a trip to see his mother, as Felix still believes at that point that Oliver has a difficult relationship with his mother due to her substance abuse disorder. To Felix and the audience’s surprise, Oliver’s mother is healthy, his father is alive, they are a middle-class family, Oliver is not an only child, and he has been lying to his parents about his grades.
During their time at his parents’ house and while Felix talks to his parents in the living room, Oliver hunches and hugs his knees, and even begins to rock back and forth from time to time. This is the only moment throughout Saltburn where Oliver is genuinely vulnerable and anxious, and his immediate reaction is to hug his knees. This was a genuine defense mechanism from Oliver, who was surely aware of this and used it to appear helpless in front of the Cattons at key moments, but he automatically did it at his most powerless moment.
Why Oliver Hugging His Knees May Secretly Reveal His Guilt
Oliver might have shown some vulnerability.
Oliver instinctively hugging his knees when he was genuinely anxious might reveal something a lot deeper about him. Oliver surely had every move planned, including how he moved around the Cattons, but hugging his knees at those moments might have also been a subconscious way of protecting himself amidst the chaos he was triggering. This might have been a show of the guilt he was feeling the more he got to know Felix and his family, yet he didn’t stop his plans.
Oliver is a lot more complex than he seems and Saltburn is packed with details that add more to its characters and their many layers. It’s possible that Oliver felt some guilt at some point, but it’s also highly likely that he used this position to better sell his idea of a helpless and innocent guest.
