By Hannah Kremer, Staff Writer

Finally, a movie about an unhinged bisexual eating the rich by taking one family member’s life at a time. Saltburn marked the first time I sat in a theater, dazed and lost for words, 15 minutes after the film ended. For several reasons, this movie was one of my favorites of the year despite its morbid and, frankly, hypersexual themes. 

There was something mesmerizing about Oliver, who was a freak by definition but still managed to make his way to the top. Honestly, there wasn’t a better casting choice than Barry Keoghan for his role. Leave it to him, with all of his experience of playing weird characters, to improvise some of the movie’s most jaw-droppingly graphic scenes. The shock factor alone had me hooked. That is if we weren’t focusing on the rest of the cast. You are told about Jacob Elordi with an eyebrow piercing. You see images of what the character looks like on TikTok, but nothing ever prepares you for seeing him on the big screen. My. God. I get the infatuation with his character, Felix; I really do. Would it be to the point that I would drink his bathwater? Oliver would. As for me? Maybe not, but I would probably combust into flames if I saw him in public. 

And, as per usual, actress Rosamund Pike rises to the occasion of playing yet another MILF, Felix’s mom. Of course, Elspeth was most definitely problematic, but she delivered hilarious lines and slayed in a lavender metallic gown, AND CAPE, MIND YOU. She could insult and degrade all I am, and I would thank her because she is perfect, talented and stunning. Every scene, from the beginning at Oxford University to the party at the Saltburn estate, was breathtaking and cinematic. Although you are looking at a clearly problem-riddled family, you begin to understand Oliver’s yearning to have their lives, as everything about this upper class British family made me want to live in that very mansion as well. Cinema is lying naked in a wheat field. Cinema is dancing at a Midsummer Night’s Dream-themed party. Cinema is Elordi smoking a cigarette. This movie is disturbing yet beautiful all at once. And as the film nears its end as Barry dances naked about the estate to “Murder on the Dancefloor”, it’s hard to grapple with what you just saw when all you really want to do is dance with him—the soundtrack will forever be embedded in my mind. At the end of the day, maybe Oliver needed therapy. Maybe I need therapy for enjoying Saltburn, but it is definitely a must-see film. Just give yourself 5-10 business days to process it 

afterward.