According to Emerald Fennell, ‘Saltburn’ Was Never Meant To Be Shocking

There are two main archetypes of moviegoers: those who are capable of stonefacing Saltburn—perhaps to the point where they feel even more pure after viewing it than they did before—and those who flirt with the possibility of an Oliver Quick-induced coma at multiple points in the film.

Neither of these responses is necessarily more or less correct than the other, but for Saltburn mastermind Emerald Fennell, all that mattered was that her audiences were reacting to exactly what was on display—the least-sanitized version of the human condition, however excruciatingly far Oliver Quick took it.

Speaking to The Wrap, Fennell mused on the nature of certain responses elicited by Saltburn, namely the ones that labeled some of its scenes “provocative,” while also alluding to the ticking time-bomb nature of Oliver, the perpetrator of just about all of the aforementioned scenes and a character that we’re very much expected to project onto:

“What’s really funny is that this is a film about desire, about restraint and the limits of restraint. Why restraint is so dangerous, why not being able to touch the thing you want to touch can drive you mad as a human None of this is remotely shocking compared to the stuff that we grew up with, the way that women’s bodies were used in film. And the thing is, when you’re writing these things, you have to interrogate yourself and you’re in quite a vulnerable place because what we’re saying is, ‘I think this is sexy and interesting and truthful.'”

She would go on to note that, regardless of any real or imagined shock value there may be, films tend to be at their best when comfort levels are tested, arguing that “frictionless” movies don’t spawn the same kinds of conversations that Saltburn found itself at the center of:

“If something’s completely frictionless or something is perfect in the sense that we need things to be perfect now — sort of seamless, frictionless, lubed up in a funny way [Laughs]. If we have that experience of, like, Weeeee! Great, though [we get] none of those conversations. The thing that’s been so amazing about this movie is people come up to me every day, every day. That’s the most thrilling.”

It’s true what they say about art disturbing the comfortable and comforting the disturbed, and the multifaceted, polarizing response to Saltburn just might be exactly the honor it hoped to achieve, because the comfortable were indubitably disturbed, and if I may speak for the disturbed, the comfort came in just as strong.

Saltburn is available to stream on Prime Video.

(featured image: Amazon MGM Studios)