The wild and confusing ending of 'Saltburn,' explained
MGM / Amazon Studios
- Warning: Major spoilers ahead for "Saltburn," now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
- In the movie, a seemingly poor student spends the summer with a rich, eccentric family.
- Here's a quick guide to the multiple twists in the last act.
The ending of the propulsive drama "Saltburn" is sure to leave audiences with more questions than answers.
In the Emerald Fennell movie, Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), a seemingly poor social outcast at Oxford University, finds himself in the orbit of the rich Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi).
Despite their class differences, Oliver and Felix become unlikely friends. When Oliver's dad supposedly dies of an overdose, Felix invites him to spend the summer at his family's lavish estate, Saltburn, so he doesn't have to return home.
Oliver quickly learns how the other half lives as he experiences the luxury and opulence enjoyed by the aristocratic — and eccentric — Catton family.
As the summer goes on, Oliver becomes more and more comfortable at Saltburn, and to continue staying there, he learns things about the Cattons that allow him to get closer to the family — maybe a little too close.
While "Saltburn" initially appears to be a satire of Britain's stiff-upper-lipped elite, the final act kicks things up a gear, and it turns into a twisty thriller.
Here is what goes down in the final act.
Felix discovers that Oliver isn't who he says he is
MGM / Amazon Studios
In the final act, it's revealed that Oliver has been lying to get close to Felix. It seems he has targeted Felix.
Throughout the movie, we are led to believe that Oliver is poor and has a difficult family life, initially making it seem like Felix and the Cattons have taken pity on him.
Felix's mother Lady Elsbeth (Rosamund Pike) and his sister Venetia (Alison Oliver) treat Oliver like something of an amusing pet project, while his cousin Farleigh (Archie Madekwe) mocks him over his lack of social standing.
But when Felix surprises Oliver with a trip to visit his mother for his birthday, the elaborate lies Oliver has told unravel. His mother is not addicted to drugs, his father is alive, the family is not poor, and his doting parents live in a nice house in the suburbs.
Felix, of course, feels betrayed and instructs Oliver to quietly leave Saltburn after the lavish birthday party Elsbeth and her husband James have organized for Oliver.
Not wanting to go without a fight, Oliver tries to find Felix and apologize to him during the party. His attempts fail and Oliver leaves Felix in the middle of an opulent garden maze on the grounds of Saltburn.
Does Oliver kill Felix?
MGM / Amazon Studios
The next day, Felix is found dead in the maze and all signs point to Oliver.
Farleigh and Venetia, in particular, are suspicious of Oliver, but Oliver plays the family against each other.
Oliver accuses Farleigh of encouraging Felix to use drugs, which is the last straw for Elsbeth and James, who kick him out of the house.
Later, Venetia, consumed by grief, appears to take her own life after confronting Oliver about how he's managed to embed himself with the Catton family.
With both her children dead, Elsbeth asks Oliver to continue to stay at Saltburn, developing an attachment to him in the absence of Felix and Venetia. A concerned James eventually bribes Oliver to get him to leave.
After a time jump, Oliver bumps into a recently widowed Elsbeth again and the pair reconnect. She invites him back to Saltburn, leading to another unexpected twist.
Oliver ends up with the Catton fortune
MGM / Amazon Studios
Throughout "Saltburn," the movie cuts to an older Oliver giving what appears to be a confession.
"I wasn't in love with him, although everyone thought I was. I loved him, I loved him, I loved him. But was I in love with him?" Oliver says at the beginning of the movie.
At the movie's end, we discover Oliver speaking to a comatose Lady Elsbeth. It is at this point his plan is revealed.
Oliver orchestrated meeting Felix at Oxford, framed Farleigh for stealing Catton family heirlooms, and was responsible for Felix and Venetia's deaths. Oliver poisoned Felix in the maze, and supplied Venetia with a razor blade, knowing that she was susceptible to suicidal thoughts. He also planned his run-in with Elsbeth years after discovering James had died.
We learn that before she fell into a coma, a vulnerable Elsbeth gave all her money and Saltburn to Oliver.
Ultimately, Oliver schemed to take the Cattons' wealth — and Saltburn — for himself.
Or did he?
Chiabella James / Prime Video
It is unclear whether this was Oliver's endgame from the very start.
Oliver was infatuated with Felix earlier in the movie (even drinking his dirty bathwater) and genuinely wanted to be close to him.
It's possible that Oliver only turned vengeful — and murderous — after Felix discovered his lies and spurned him by telling him to leave Saltburn after his birthday party.
Had Felix not discovered Oliver's lies, would Oliver have set out to become the new owner of Saltburn? Or would he have been content continuing to be friends (or perhaps something more) with Felix and the Catton family?
Emerald Fennell says that the audience is meant to be on Oliver's side at the end
MGM / Amazon Studios
In the final scene, Oliver celebrates his takeover of Saltburn by dancing naked around the manor to "Murder on the Dancefloor" by Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, director Emerald Fennell broke down the scene: "If we all did our job correctly, you are on Oliver's side. You don't care what he does, you want him to do it. You are both completely repulsed and sort of on his side."
"It's that kind of dance with the devil. It's like, 'Fuck. Okay, let's go.' And so at the end, it needed to have a triumph, a post-coital win, a desecration," she added.
This article was originally published on November 24, 2023, and was most recently updated on January 2, 2024.
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