The Viral Success of “Saltburn” Only Makes Me Hate It More
The viral success of “Saltburn,” largely driven by its gross-out scenes, only intensifies my disdain for the film. Despite arriving late to the hype surrounding Emerald Fennell’s second feature film, my experience was marred by a sense of disappointment and repulsion.
From the outset, “Saltburn” felt like an overextended and confusing mix of narratives, awkwardly straddling the line between “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Brideshead Revisited.” The film seemed to revel in its own transgressiveness, adding gratuitous shock value rather than meaningful content.
The central theme of the film, which warns middle-class aspirants about the dangers of the upper class, came across as both misjudged and potentially offensive. Its viral success, fueled by social media buzz, seems more a testament to the sensationalism of its scenes rather than its quality as a piece of filmmaking.
Key to the film’s virality are scenes like the notorious ‘bathtub scene’ where Barry Keoghan’s character drinks bathwater, and other similarly graphic moments. These scenes, rather than adding depth to the narrative, seem designed to shock and disgust. Fennell’s assertion that these moments are “diabolical and revolting, and unbelievably relatable” rings hollow; the scenes are shocking for their own sake and not because they resonate with genuine human experiences.
Despite its modest box office success in the UK and the lukewarm reception from critics, the film’s release on Amazon Prime over Christmas ignited a wave of social media reactions. Clips from “Saltburn” have amassed billions of views on platforms like TikTok, driven by their shock value rather than any intrinsic merit.
Fennell’s attempts to frame the social media buzz around “Saltburn” as a result of its gothic romance elements feel unconvincing. The film’s so-called “operatic, heightened emotion” and “heightened sense of the erotic and of love and of hate” seem overshadowed by its more repulsive scenes, which dominate the discourse.
In essence, the viral success of “Saltburn” highlights a troubling trend where shock value trumps substantive storytelling. The film’s popularity on social media, driven by its most sensational and revolting scenes, only deepens my aversion to it. It’s a stark reminder that virality does not equate to quality, and “Saltburn” stands as a testament to this unfortunate reality.
Coming in three days late to the buzz for Emerald Fennell’s sophomore effort with “Saltburn,” it felt like an overlong, confusing mix of themes resembling bits of “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Brideshead Revisited” but with the added shock value one assumes existed solely for the sake of going viral.
The core of the film—that the upper class is a warning to the middle class—seemed off and quite offensive. It’s hard for me to think that the fact that this has gone viral in the last few weeks reflects quality filmmaking.
While Fennell’s casting of Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan in the lead roles was commendable, with Elordi’s classic good looks and Keoghan’s odd nerdiness, it falters with heavy-handed class politics and gratuitous scenes. Big-name actors like Richard E. Grant are wasted, and the gratuitous, senseless sex scenes seem to have been slotted in for the shock value rather than the storytelling.
Although “Saltburn” did decently well at the UK box office and received a lukewarm reception from critics, it found serious real estate on Amazon Prime during the holidays. It catapulted into viral territory with reaction videos popping up on TikTok and Instagram. The film also recently notched five BAFTA nominations.
Speaking to the BBC, Fennell described the reaction as something to that of the infamous ‘bathtub scene’ whereby Keoghan’s character drinks bathwater—describing it as “diabolical, revolting, and unbelievably relatable.” A point that feels somewhat disingenuous, bearing in mind its virality is more attributed to shock value than relatability.
Notably, the BBC wrote that “Saltburn” “is full of plenty of viral scenes,” where some of those went viral owing to the graphic and disturbing content that has been massive on social media. However, in what seems to conflict with Fennell’s earlier claims of the film’s success being due to gothic romance elements, it was more the viral scenes that mainly contributed to its popularity.
On the whole, although “Saltburn” is interesting in its misfire, it eventually feels like a trip to the plughole—more noteworthy for sensationalism than cinematic quality.
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