Noughties earworms? Check! Knife-sharp social commentary? Check! Carey Mulligan in a wig? Check! This can only mean one thing - Emerald Fennell is back back back, baby. And this time, the Promising Young Woman mastermind is taking aim at the British elite with Saltburn, which finds Barry Keoghan spending a sordid summer at Jacob Elordi’s decadent country home. Described in its official synopsis as “a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire,” the latest trailer for Fennell’s film certainly nails the “beautifully wicked” vibe. Check it out for yourself below:
It takes about five seconds for the Saltburn trailer to establish that our guide into this world of excess and debauchery, Barry Keoghan’s Oxford student Oliver Quick, is a bit of a social outcast. “NFI, you and me,” one of his coursemates says after the pair have been snubbed for the college Christmas party, “Not fucking invited.” That soon changes when, after a chance encounter with debonair aristocrat Felix Catton (Elordi), Oliver finds himself invited to stay the summer at Saltburn, Felix’s family’s sprawling estate. From there, it’s butlers, black-tie dinners, booze, and subversively-deployed bops all the way down as Oliver meets the eccentric Catton clan.
And the Catton clan are an interesting bunch, played by a veritable who’s who of established and rising stars. Over the teaser’s course, we meet matriarch Elsbeth (Rosamund Pike), who takes a shine to Oliver and his “wonderful eyes”; Felix’s father Sir James Catton (Richard E. Grant); and sister Venetia (Alison Oliver). And that’s before we even consider “Poor Dear” Pamela (Mulligan), cousin Farleigh (Archie Madekwe), or the family’s loyal butler Duncan (Paul Rhys), who comes with a warning – “Lots of people get lost in Saltburn.”
An early teeth-itchingly cringe bourgeois karaoke rendition of Flo Rida’s ‘Low’ feels like a distant memory by the time we’ve moved past sensual shots of Felix and Oliver getting closer, and reach the trailer’s red-lit, dramatic climax. “You’re not leaving Saltburn,” declares an emotional Elsbeth over dramatic shots of robe-strewn gardens, Oliver crying, and a coffin being carried away. But honestly, she needn’t worry – with a trailer as banging as this, we wouldn’t want to leave Saltburn, even if we could.
Saltburn releases in cinemas on 17 November.