‘Saltburn’ Ending Explained — Make Yourself at Home

The Big Picture

• Writer/director Emerald Fennell establishes herself as a brave and confrontational storyteller in her latest thriller
  Saltburn
  , which analyzes classical differences and includes political satire.
• Saltburn
  ‘s outrageous ending is certain to divide audiences, as it leaves little room for interpretation and will prompt heated discussions.
• The film explores themes of obsession, manipulation, and dark secrets as the protagonist, Oliver, infiltrates Felix’s wealthy family and orchestrates a series of tragic events for his own gain.

Writer/director Emerald Fennell delivered one of the most insightful, challenging, and controversial directorial debuts of the last few years with her 2020 thriller Promising Young Woman. By recontextualizing romantic comedy clichés to analyze rape culture and gender roles, Fennell established herself as a brave, confrontational storyteller who was unafraid to go to very dark places with her projects. Fennell’s follow-up film, Saltburn, is just as disturbing, and even more darkly amusing than her debut. With allusions to The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Great Gatsby, Fennell’s latest thriller analyzes classical differences in a succinct way. The political satire within Fennell’s text will certainly invite heated discussion, but it’s hard to focus on the latent satire when her ending is so striking. Saltburn’s outrageous ending is certain to divide audiences down the middle, as it doesn’t leave much room for interpretation.

What Is Emerald Fennell’s ‘Saltburn’ About?

Saltburn opens with a fourth-wall-breaking sequence in which the young man Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) appears to be directly addressing the audience as he’s dressed in finely tailored clothes. While the context of Quick’s predicament isn’t immediately revealed, he claims that the events that followed “couldn’t be avoided” and that it “wasn’t his fault.” This introduces a mystery that the rest of the film has to answer — what did Oliver do? Brief sequences flash before the scene of Oliver obsessing over another young man, Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). Oliver claims that his feelings for Felix were sincere, despite what it may seem.

The film then flashes back to 2006, when both Oliver and Felix are young Oxford University students. On the surface, they seem like the two least likely students to ever be friends. Oliver is a bit of a wallflower; he’s very studious, but unlike many of his classmates, is extremely poor, attending Oxford on a full scholarship. Comparatively, Felix is the heart of the party. He has a large circle of friends who all adore him and comes from a family that is eye-wateringly rich. When Oliver comes across Felix with a flat tire on his bike and is late for class, Oliver lends him his bike. That evening, Felix invites Oliver to his table at the pub to thank him for his kindness. Felix even gives Oliver money when the young man is struggling to cover his round. They then become fast friends.

Oliver’s behavior seems to change as he adapts to the more lavish nature of the college parties he is now invited to. Although he doesn’t quite share the social visibility that Felix has, Oliver begins to make more friends, although Felix’s cousin Farleigh (Archie Madekwe) remains cruel and skeptical of Oliver. While Felix hangs off every word of Oliver’s underprivileged and abusive upbringing, the two young men are spending so much time together that Felix begins to grow irritable toward Oliver, lying to him about going to the pub, so Oliver won’t join him. But once Oliver arrives at his door in tears after hearing that his father has passed away, Felix invites him to spend the summer at Saltburn, his family’s opulent estate in the English countryside.

Oliver Grows Closer to Felix and His Family

Once Oliver arrives at Saltburn, he realizes that the world he has entered is far different than what he expected. Saltburn is cared for by Felix’s family butler Duncan (Paul Rhys) and seems to operate like a royal institution. Oliver is initially overwhelmed by how culturally different Saltburn is from anything he’s experienced before, even Oxford, but he’s still welcomed with open arms by Felix’s parents, Elspeth (Rosamund Pike) and Sir James (Richard E. Grant). Although Farleigh has his suspicions about Oliver, his sister Venetia (Alison Oliver) notes that he seems more “real” than some of Felix’s other guests. This creates tension within Oliver’s mind; has Felix invited other friends to Saltburn, and did they fail to pass his family’s test?

Any anxieties that Oliver initially had about becoming adjusted to Saltburn begin to subside as he grows closer to Felix’s family. Oliver, with a newfound confidence, has an intimate encounter with Venetia, which he later denies when Felix questions him. Oliver demands Venetia overcome her eating disorder, and subtly pushes more and more food toward her at the breakfast table as she silently obeys. Farleigh grows even more suspicious of Oliver, especially when he realizes that Oliver isn’t as meek and docile as he may have initially seemed. A full-on rivalry initiates between the two after Farleigh embarrasses Oliver at a karaoke performance during one of Saltburn’s lavish parties. While they seemingly hate each other, Oliver sneaks into Farleigh’s bedroom one night and the pair have sex. Not long after, Farleigh is kicked out of the house after it is revealed that he tried to sell off an artifact he stole from Saltburn.

With Farleigh out of the way, Oliver’s infatuation with Felix becomes a complete obsession (a particular bath scene is proof of this alone), and Felix’s family begins to accept Oliver as one of their own despite his obvious manipulation of them, from purposely ignoring Venetia to indulging Elspeth in bitching about her dead friends. Sir James is enthusiastic when his wife suggests throwing Oliver a massive, medieval-themed birthday party, as Oliver never would have had a celebration so luxurious on his own. Thinking it would be a nice birthday surprise for his friend, Felix decides to contact Oliver’s family. This ends up revealing an uncomfortable truth; Oliver lied about the tragedythat sparked Felix’s initial invitation to Saltburn. Oliver comes from a happy, middle-class family, and both his parents are very much alive; he even has two sisters despite telling Felix that he is an only child. Their entire friendship was built on a lie, understandably enraging Felix.

What Happens at Oliver’s Party?

Although Oliver and Felix are now drifting apart, the party is still as indulgent as any of the festivities at Saltburn. An apologetic Oliver attempts to confront Felix, claiming that they will look back at this moment and laugh many years later. Oliver tells Felix that his feelings are sincere, but his apology falls upon deaf ears. This argument ends up being the last encounter that they share together. The following morning, a drunken Oliver wakes up to screams from Felix’s family. Felix’s dead body is discovered in the middle of Saltburn’s maze, the location of their heated argument. The death is put down as an accidental overdose of drugs or alcohol. After a somber funeral, Oliver is seen cementing his deranged obsession by masturbating on top of Felix’s grave.

Felix’s family is unwilling to acknowledge the tragedy. Although Farleigh attempts to pin some of the blame on Oliver, Oliver reveals to the family that Farleigh was taking cocaine at the party, causing Sir James to angrily kick him out of the house. It’s not initially clear who was involved in Felix’s death, but Venetia, overcome by grief, confronts Oliver while taking a bath. Venetia claims that Oliver is pathetic and that he had an unhealthy obsession with her brother. The next morning, Venetia is found dead in the bath from an apparent suicide. The next member of Felix’s family to confront Oliver is Sir James; although Sir James begs Oliver to leave Saltburn, Oliver states that he must stay in order to comfort Elspeth, who is holding onto Oliver to distract herself from her grief. Sir James has to pay Oliver off so he will leave their lives forever. If only it was that easy!

Oliver Was Lying the Whole Time To Infiltrate Felix’s Family

The film flashes to a few years later where Felix has a chance encounter with Elspeth at a small coffee shop; it’s revealed through newspaper clippings that Sir James has died from an illness. Elspeth invites Oliver back to Saltburn, as she has no one left. Sometime later, she is seen on her deathbed, with only Oliver to negligently care for her. Oliver pulls the plug on her life support, and the truth is revealed: Oliver orchestrated a series of events that inspired Felix to invite him to Saltburn in the first place. He sabotaged Felix’s bike and faked being poor.

He framed Farleigh by sending an email from his phone to a local antique dealer. When Felix threatened to reveal his secrets, Oliver murdered him, drugging the champagne bottle that he thrust into Felix’s arms after their argument. Oliver is seen in a flashback leaving the razors beside Venetia in the bath, encouraging her to slit her wrists. And finally, it was no chance encounter that Oliver had with Elspeth — after hearing about Sir James’ death, he stalked her so he could “bump into” her. The death of the Catton family leaves Saltburn in Felix’s hands. The film ends with a wild moment of a naked Oliver dancing to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dance Floor” as he enjoys his new home.

Saltburn is available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S.

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