The Delightfully Filthy Origin of ‘Saltburn’s Title Is Exactly What We’d Expect From Emerald Fennell

Saltburn may not have had a whole lot of luck in the awards circuit as of late, but let’s be real—the twisted depths of our lust and whatever remaining innocence still resided in us were all the trophies Emerald Fennell’s sophomore feature needed.

Indeed, judging by a new piece of trivia shared by Fennell herself, it sounds like the Barry Keoghan-led film had its goal locked and loaded right from its inception.

In a recent interview with Access Hollywood, the filmmaker revealed the origin of Saltburn‘s title. It turns out that Saltburn is both the name of a real-life town in England and the word that Fennell would apparently choose to describe a “really nice sex injury,” which in turn does a lot of heavy lifting in pinning down the essence of the film.

Somebody asked why it was called Saltburn, and I said, ‘Well, because it’s a real town in England.’ And when I heard the name Saltburn, it sounded like a sex injury, but a really nice one. You know, like a sting, a pleasurable sting. And I think that’s kind of what the film is really, isn’t it?

Pleasurable sting, uncomfortable orgasm—call it what you want, so long as it does justice to Saltburn‘s ability to make us swoon, and then squirm, and then make us squirm again because of what we swooned at, before ultimately convincing us that the things we squirmed at are actually worth swooning over.

Saltburn is now available to stream on Prime Video.

(featured image: Amazon MGM Pictures)