#to hopefully kill whatever brain fungud the movie gave me

[nopity-nope]

ok so i just got back from a funeral, which is just great all things considered, and now the internet gets to hear my thoughts and opinions. i desperately need to get these outta my head somehow they've turned into goop. also spoilers for Saltburn.

i knew before i started watching that the movie was fucked up and that one of the main characters was honestly insane cuz of the bathtub scene, which id seen before eons ago, but i couldnt remember who it was. i honestly spent the first half of the movie UP UNTIL THE ACTUAL BATHTUB SCENE trying to figure out who the major psychopath was. honeslty, first five minutes into the flashback or whatever I was like "mmmm yeah Oliver is defintely giving psycho serial vibes, he seems like on of those loners who'd snap and shootup a school" which was either good hut instincts on my part or really good subtle forwhadowing on the movies part. like they make oliver seem really awkward on purpose, and later on he absolutely feels unsettling at times, so they couldve totally given us small hints. but on the other hand i really wasnt expecting some of the unhinged shit until after it happened, cuz they did a good job giving us surprises, that it mightve been gut instincts and the fact i was looking for a psycho.

but even after initially suspecting Oliver, i was honestly expecting felix to be the freak. at the beginning, Felix seems like a normal mega rich dude, and like there's the envy and admiration but he seemed normal, nice and whatever. but after they get to saltburn i was like "oh yikes, this is 100% giving rich people who hunt peasants for sport and are members of an evil blood cult vibes" and i was convinced that felix was the psycho. the opulence, the lack of care for other people, the complete removal from normal society, plus implying that Oliver's a toy for felix and that this has happened before, and the reference to going insane soon, it all screamed evil rich people. i honestly thought the story was gonna be how felix lured a poor lil loner to his big bad house, did horrific things to him, and then discarded him once Ollie was broken. up until the actual bathtub scene, i kept flipflopping between who i thought the psycho was, meaning i was still caught off guard. also that scene was a thousand times worse then what i was expecting even tho i knew what happens. absolutely gross.

Saltburn is actually a really good horror movie, even though it technically isn't considered a psychological horror (tho it should be), because the entire movie was horrifying. And it was horrifying for two really different reasons imo! The first third/half is horrifying because its a little too realistic, its awkward, it makes you cringe and face some harsh realities that you dont want to. Movies are supposed to be a type of escapism, so why is it so real. Olivers awkward, he's a normal person suddenly thrust into the world of rich people and its soooo obvious that he doesn't belong. he dresses a little too formal, he doesn't have that many friends, he doens't really socialise. While everyone else is at Oxford because they're parents are rich and this is just a normal Uni where they can goof off and get the experience they want, Oliver worked hard to get what he has and he desperately wants to succeed, he needs to do well, even though you can tell that it doesn't matter, in the end no one cares. And then there's the scene at the pub, where he cant afford to buy the others drinks, and its horrifying being the poorest in the group, and having people who could never understand judge you. and there are a bunch of other little scenes that make you cringe when coming face to face with them, but i feel like it all culminates with the eggs. being in a situation that's a completely different world then what youre used to, and then breaking rules you didn't even know existed. honestly the egg scene is just as bad as some of the others in terms of the amount of visceral emotions it made me feel, tho unlike the others this made me feel, idk different i cant name it. some mix of empathy and pity and disgust and rage. and i cant believe that Felix didnt warn his friend, he shoudlve known this would happen.

the second half of the movie, after Oliver carves a little space out for himeslf in Saltburn, is horrifying in the traditional sense in that it made me feel a terrible mix of shock, disgust, and judgement. after the first half all the outlandish, ourageous bullshit felt even more vivid. contrast or smt maybe.

After the bathtub scene, i was like "ok so Ollies in love with Felix, hes just absolutetly fucking clinically insane about it". which fair, Jacob Elordi is so hot. Id never do all that. but at least the psycho has good taste. adn then the sex scene between Ollie and Venetia happens which. one, gross. like ew fuck what's wrong with both of you. also Ollie, Vee, what are you doing. but i was still like "ok so Ollies in love with Felix hes just going about it the worst way possible". and then ollie kills felix, which was obvious from the get go cause we know this mans a sociopath, and i did honestly still think that Ollie loved felix in some way. even tho at the end he says he hated felix, he hated them all, i do genuinely think a part of him loved them. at some point, when James is kicking Oliie out after Venetia's funeral, i thought "oh maybe ollies been after the mom the entire time" and it wasn't until the very end that i was like "ooooooooooh he wanted the HOUSE, not the mom, ok then". im not sure if the grave scene made me lean for or against ollie loving felix in some capacity, cause on one hand you wouldnt fuck the grave if there was nothing between you, but on the other hand you wouldnt fuck the grave if you actually loved them. such a fucked up scene, it did not need to be that long. in the end i think the entire thing was Oliver exerting power over Felix, because at last Felix is powerless and Oliver can do whatever he wants. the entire movie has a really strong homoerotic undertone to it but i think that's cuz Ollie wants us to think he's in love with Felix (or loved felix but wasn't in love with him i guess) until the end.

speaking of slightly fucked up things involving venetia, its really funny to me how shes like "you're just a toy to felix" to oliver, considering that's how Oliver treats her, felix, and farleigh. once he gets his footing, hes just playing with them all summer like dolls, setting up little scenes and enjoying them. but then farleigh starts to ruin his little game, so he gets rid of farliegh and tries to keep playing. but then felix ruins it so he gets rid of felix. and he tries to keep playing but farleigh comes and tries to ruin it again so he gets rid of him for good. and the venetia doesn't play along so he gets rid of her too until all his dolls are broken. and then he gets to play with elspeth one final time at the end before she's gone and he gets to keep the dollhouse.

and about farleigh. i feel like in any other story, from any other perspective, id really enjoy his character, but thats just not what happens. i love how hes set up as the antagonist, even tho hes not one of the two main characters. from the very first meeting, were made to not like him and hes set up as ollie opposite, to an extent. he shows up really late to an academic advising session and gets off completely scott free because of who his family is and the fact that the prof knew his mom. in fact the prof likes him more then oliver despite everything. farleigh later mocks ollies essay, which the teacher aggrees with, and soon we see that these sessions turn into farleigh and the prof chatting while ollie sits there. during the bar scene i menioned ealrier its farleigh that pressures ollie into buying drinks despite probably knowing he cant afford them and then is disdainful when felix tells farleigh to lay off oliver. time and time again throughout the movie we see farleigh is against oliver and keeps trying to put him down. which is interesting cuz, just like how "poor dear pamela" and oliver are sort of mirror images or parralels of one another, oliver and farleigh are also mirrors. despite technically being family, farleigh is just as dependent on the cattons' goodwill for all nice things and is also at the mercy of their whims. and tho we dont hear from him again, hes presumably the only other main character besides oliver to survive till the end.

this is all really incoherent so sorry. i had/have more thoughts but im honeslty tired now

just watched saltburn, gimme a couple hours to create a thought

but also wtf