Emerald Fennell likes to push the envelope with her movies. After her much-talked about and Oscar-winning debut, Promising Young Woman, Fennell perhaps has gone even wilder with her second directorial outing, Saltburn. With many moments throughout the movie that proved quite shocking (the bathtub scene and the grave scene among them), you may be asking yourself what just happened when you get to the Saltburn ending. We're here to help with that.
If you haven't watched Saltburn yet, best to come back after you've seen it as we are about to get into some major SPOILERS for Saltburn in this article. But before we break down the Saltburn ending, let's recap a bit what happens in the movie.
The movie focuses on Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), an awkward Oxford student who is envious of the life of the upper class and particularly that of Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). In a stroke of luck, Oliver gets to help Felix out and the two become friends, with Felix welcoming him into his circle and, at the end of the school year, inviting him to his family's estate, Saltburn. There he meets Felix's parents, Elsbeth (Rosamund Pike) and Sir James (Richard E. Grant), his sister Venetia (Alison Oliver) and spends more time with Felix's cousin and fellow Oxford student Farleigh (Archie Madekwe).
Most of the family welcomes Oliver and warms to him, though he has a contentious relationship with Farleigh, who does not believe Oliver belongs in their world. Oliver, however, has plans to make sure that he gets the chance to live the life he always wanted. Let's explore how Oliver does that and what it means for the rest of the characters.
What is Oliver's plan in Saltburn?
While Oliver and Felix bonded like many normal college kids would during the school year, Oliver's personal problems also made Felix feel for him and want to help him. This included Oliver explaining his troubled family situation, including his mother's addiction struggles and his dad's death. It's these events that inspire Felix to invite Oliver to Saltburn to forget about all that.
Once Oliver meets the rest of the Catton family, he endears himself to them as well. He praises Elsbeth for her empathy and beauty, he engages Sir James on his interest in the history of Saltburn estate and he is romantic with Venetia. The only person that is not swayed by Oliver in any way is Farleigh, who believes him to just be a freeloader and often calls him out for it, including one night at a party where he has Oliver sing "Rent" by the band Pet Shop Boys.
This eventually leads to showing Oliver being very calculating in his actions. That night he visits Farleigh in his bed and performs sexual acts for him, hoping to have him treat him better. But Oliver's real intention was to get access to Farleigh's computer while he slept so he can make it look like Farleigh wanted to sell a rare antique of the estate's for money. This results in Farleigh being sent away for a while.
Everything is seemingly going well after that, with the Cattons offering to throw Oliver a lavish birthday party. Felix has another birthday surprise for Oliver though — he is taking him to his mother's to help mend their relationship. However, when Felix arrives at Oliver's home it is not the scene that Oliver portrayed. Oliver's family is quite normal and sweet, and his dad is very much still alive. Felix is rightly disturbed by Oliver's deception, so when they return to Saltburn he tells him that after his party he should leave and he wants nothing to do with him anymore.
Who dies in Saltburn?
Oliver spends most of his party trying to explain himself to Felix, but again Felix wants nothing to do with him. Oliver eventually corners Felix in the maze so they can talk, but again Felix refuses to accept what Oliver is trying to sell. Instead, Felix spends the party getting drunk, taking a big swig of champagne, and doing drugs, snorting cocaine multiple times throughout the night.
The next morning, the estate is in a panic as no one can find Felix. They eventually do, though he is dead in the maze from an apparent overdose. The Cattons are in shock, with Elsbeth in particular acting strange and relying on Oliver for comfort (Felix did not tell anyone about Oliver's lies). However, things only get worse from there.
Venetia, in her grief, is taking a bath in Felix's tub when Oliver finds her. She is drunk, but she now has a clearer picture of Oliver, calling him a moth, drawn to her and her family's flame. The next morning, she is found dead, having slit her wrists in the tub.
After these events, Sir James finally puts an end to Oliver's stay at Saltburn, begging him to leave so he and Elsbeth can try and recovery from the events, even offering him money to do so.
A few years later, Elsbeth bumps into Oliver at a coffee shop. Sir James has died and Elsbeth, never turning on Oliver like the other members of her family did, invites him back into her life. This is a mistake though.
Throughout the movie, Oliver has been providing narration, talking to someone as he describes the events that have been depicted. At the end of the movie we learn that he is talking to Elsbeth, who is on a ventilator, seemingly close to death. Oliver finally reveals he was actually responsible for both Felix and Venetia's deaths, poisoning the champagne bottle Felix drank from and leaving the razor that Venetia used to cut her wrist. He also ensured that he and Elsbeth would bump into each other at the coffee shop after Sir James' death, just there to wait for her. Now, in her final moments, Oliver takes her pillow and smothers her.
Why would Oliver do all this? So he could become the owner of Saltburn and finally reach the status level that he longed for. Elsbeth had made it so Oliver would be the one to inherit the estate upon her death. The final moments of the movie show Oliver enjoying his new home, as he dances naked throughout, the new lord of Saltburn.
Saltburn is playing exclusively in movie theaters worldwide.
