Emerald Fennell’s second film Burning salt — another grotesque, glamorous parable about “eating the rich.”
The vibrant “neo-Gothic” film, set in the early 1990s, combines unspoken class politics (and class relations) Bride’s head revisited with a possessed killer The Talented Mr. Ripley. Oliver (Barry Keoghan) is a loner in his first year at Oxford. He is soon captivated by the charming, popular and very wealthy Felix (Jacob Elordi).
Felix takes him under his wing and brings Oliver home to the family estate of Saltburn for the summer. There, Oliver slowly insinuates himself into the lives of boring ex-model Felix, mother Elsbeth (Rosamund Pike), his unhappy, bored sister Venetia (Alison Oliver), his suspicious cousin Farley (Archie Madekwe) and his crazy father. Richard E. Grant). After a few twists and turns, we learn that Oliver may not have been the helpless boy he first appeared to be; In fact, he may be here to bring about the downfall of the family.
In recent years, a wave of films and television shows have explored the theme of “rich people’s food.” Projects such as White Lotus, Continuity, Youthird seasonTriangle of Sadness, Menu, parasite AND Knife out: glass bow They all picked up on the trend and presented us with incredible caricatures of the rich, each more ridiculous than the last, with their own narrow-minded and acquisitive worldview.
We are then invited to sit back and enjoy their (usually larger than life) demise at the hands of the poor (or sometimes middle class). These films and TV series have a satirical, telling tone – yes, it’s exaggerated and absurd, they say, but isn’t it? Pleasure see the elite meet their makers?
Fennell is not a visually subtle director—witness her debut, the neon-drenched and wildly provocative 2020 thriller. Promising Young Woman in which Cassie (Carey Mulligan) commits vengeful and bloody murders. IN Burning salt, this further increases the value of the shock. We watch as Oliver smears Venetia’s menstrual blood all over her face, slurps Felix’s dirty bath water from the sewer, unzips his pants, and masturbates into the hole in the ground where Felix is buried. The film ends with a long shot of Oliver and Hugh Grant dancing.Real loveThe style, through the property, is completely naked.
Like previous Eat the Rich projects, Burning saltThe film seems to aim to give audiences a fun and shocking experience – when I saw it at the London Film Festival, the cinema was filled with gasps, surprised giggles and incredulous whispers – and I, too, was semi- A serious film on offer here. High class criticism. There is no denying that the first part is successful, but as far as the second part is concerned, the film is less successful. What is Fennell’s real purpose with all this gaudy visual excess other than to provoke a violent reaction? Is she really making a statement that goes deeper than these superficial wounds?
Because Oliver, as it turns out, is not a lower-class boy tired of the excesses of the rich students around him at Oxford. Instead, he comes from a comfortable, if boring, middle class family. His reasons for destroying his family disappear. Although her many insensitive comments and self-doubt seem to irritate him, it doesn’t seem to be what drives him. In reality, he turns out to be just as callous and heartless. It’s definitely fun and entertaining to watch, but as a class critique it’s vague and ineffective.
By the end Burning saltDo we find ourselves more disturbed than excited by the many shocking images that greet us on Oliver’s path to exterminating the rich – what are his motives? And why did these people turn out to be so terrible again? The only answer is that he hates this family because he can never be it.
So, major spoilers ahead: He kills her and takes her place. This takes the idea of eating the rich to the next level – after eating the rich and enjoying the food, it seems like Oliver wants nothing more than to turn into the people he swallowed. At best, it’s a vague political message hidden behind a barrage of imagery – drinking dirty bath water, sexual perversion, explicit nudity – and it feels like shock for shock’s sake.
Looking back at other Eat the Rich movies and TV series before this one Burning salt, there are many similar problems. It turns out that “the rich eat” is a problematic term that is not always carefully studied. I like Burning saltFew of these projects make us think about their social commentary. Instead, our minds are filled with images of blood and glitter, and we revel in the pure pleasure of it all. parasite perhaps the only exception.
Eat the Rich stories encourage us to enjoy the aesthetic glamor of the rich as much as their downfall. Because what will happen? White Lotus without luxury hotels? To Glass bow without the beautiful jumpsuits from Kate Hudson and Janelle Monáe? To Burning salt be left without luxury property? We like to focus on exclusivity. Hypocrisy is woven into the fabric of these projects. As much as we, like Oliver, want to destroy the rich, we also secretly yearn to enter their world.
Maybe in this Burning saltThis complex social commentary has something to do with Fennell’s high-society upbringing—something she’s all too aware of. In a recent interview with the British FashionShe referred to her “grotesque privilege” and said she was “very aware” of it. From Burning saltShe seems to want to prove that she is knowledge what a privilege she was. In fact, she knows this so well that she has turned the upper classes into satirical caricatures, which she laughs at before celebrating their downfall – but she can’t quite resist the appeal of it all: their houses. Are very nice and who should not Do you want to go there for a party?
It’s hard not to feel it Burning salt grapples with this country’s vast class divisions with the same flippant, empty attitude—while Fennell may well be aware of her privilege, her latest film doesn’t seem to say anything about it other than “it’s not like that.” and “Isn’t this fun to discover?”
Recent rich food films rely too heavily on caricature and satirical exaggeration to have any real or lasting impact. Knife out: glass bow full of ridiculous “types” rather than individuals. Menu Extreme wealth can be extremely scary – and yet these films that purport to hold the rich accountable rarely really delve deeply into the real impact that the super-rich have on the world around them. – from their insidious political power to their often harmful climate and economic impacts that are broadly outlined or ignored entirely.
Instead, they’re simply portrayed as mildly stupid, ridiculous buffoons who deserve incredible cinematic rewards before we all go home and forget about them.
Bye Burning salt it’s certainly an attack on the sensibilities, but the inherently convoluted class commentary fails to set the tone. Maybe with Burning salt, it’s time to finally put away our cutlery. It’s time to stop eating the rich and hold them accountable.
Source: I News
I am Mario Pickle and I work in the news website industry as an author. I have been with 24 News Reporters for over 3 years, where I specialize in entertainment-related topics such as books, films, and other media. My background is in film studies and journalism, giving me the knowledge to write engaging pieces that appeal to a wide variety of readers.