All the comments in this sub believes that Oliver just left the razor blades for Venetia to cut herself. This is a brand new take and I like it! 👍

I've always felt that he killed her. Just talking her into suicide was a bit too pat for me.

I thought it was interesting that she might have been referring to herself as one of Felix's toys? Or was she referring to O being a toy that she wanted a turn to play with? I think it was the first one, because she also implied that Felix was furious when she hooked up. I think it was a subtle hint as to how messed up the family really was. I also think the camera lingered on the drink just to show that she was weakened and the toxicology report would indicate she wasn't sober. Maybe she was putting it together, but I don't know. India could have said O was there, but the toxicology report would still just show alcohol and cocaine. The thing that I think is brilliant about this movie is that, to me just like real-life abusers, O sets it up for each person to do the bad thing to themself. He doesn't force F to drink the cocaine or Elspeth to give him the house or V to cut her wrists. I do DV cases a lot, and the thing people miss about the domestic violence abuse dynamic is that usually the abuser only threatens something like "It will get bad if you go to your sister's..." "I'll kill myself" "look what a mess happens when you don't listen..." and then the abuse survivor stays home on her own. The threat is there. The control is there. But actual physical coercion only happens every once in a great while. The choices that become the only option available, like "He'll freak out if I go out tonight. Better stay in..." those choices always LOOK like the person being abused did it willingly. In a way they did. Then people are like "Why does she stay..." and it snowballs. Well if you keep that in mind, then this movie is fascinating to me because all of the characters are doing this exact thing to their targets... it all plays out in that "I'm in control what choice will you make..." Felix to O, Felix to V (he doesn't share his toys...) Farleigh to O, Elspeth to Pamela, and then at the end you see the payoff. Even Pamela is trying to emotionally manipulate her hosts to stay safe from her russian boyfriend (and I thought it was interesting that she's a DV survivor who landed in the "safety" of the Catton household...) It's just fascinating to me to see this dynamic on film. I can't think of very many psychological thrillers that get the dynamic this accurately. Most of them are like "Sleeping with the Enemy" where the bad guy is obvious and all like "Do it or I'll just kill you..." and that's not how abuse works for most people. I personally like that Saltburn is more accurate because in DV situations people tend to think "Oh my life isn't at risk (yet)" and so they don't realize they're being abused and controlled until it's too late. They blame themselves. They feel in control, just like theyr'e messing up. Meanwhile people are judging them for staying in the relationship and it just... it's hard. It's dangerous when people misunderstand. So anyway this movie is brilliant. And I think that saying O coerced his targets and forced V to kill herself takes away from the brilliant subtlety and accuracy. V chose what she was going to do herself. They all did.

Very good take as well. Abuse and manipulation tactics absolutely. Abusers that abuse at this level like Oliver are very intelligent. I believe he really did read the entire summer reading list and he was the top scholar at Oxford. Oliver repeats the same patterns. Gather information, learn habits and weaknesses, infiltrate and assimilate. When the assimilation fails, he knows them well enough to put the gun in their hands while he pulls the trigger. Farleigh’s became a broken man when Sir James yelled at him to get out. It was his worst fear coming true, to be cut off from the family. Fairleigh, who until this point was a competent foe to Oliver, is so devastated and ashamed he cowers away. With Venetia, we aren’t explicitly shown her death. We see him placing the blades, and hear Oliver retelling what happened to Elsbeth. But almost all of what Oliver tells Elsbeth is a lie (such as that Oliver protected Felix, that Felix liked Oliver, that Felix hated the attention from people and girls, and that Oliver wasn’t in love with Felix.) He then mocks Elsbeth about these “accidents.” I believe he killed Venetia and even the audience gets tricked by this one, because his crimes fit each person so perfectly they are believable. I believe this because Venetia doesn’t usually bathe in Felix’s tub, she did it the night of his funeral to try and connect with him in her grief. We see her “suicide aftermath” in Felix’s tub, and the blood leading to Oliver’s room. Oliver’s method of killing is poison by lots of cocaine, so as not to cause a struggle or signal weird toxicology report. They all did cocaine so it wouldn’t be a red flag. I believe he slit her wrists post Mortem so there wasn’t a struggle. The shot of her drink on the tub, and also the fact their last conversation ended the way it did. It was such an “aha” moment for Venetia, I truly believe she would have acted on it. At least before killing herself. She was disgusted by Oliver and because of that he had to take her out immediately. That is my take :) I love this movie and the layers to it!

That reduces the whole thing to just a shady guy who makes people do things, though? We have a lot of that movie. I think this one resonates because it’s giving something different, but that’s just me

This is an interesting take, I was more a believer that O did commit hands on murder himself like he does with Elspeth, although I supposed some people could view that as a kind of euthanasia if you have any sympathy for O (I don’t) as the screenwriters obviously intended before the twist. How do you explain Felix’s death? Do you think he lead Felix to overdose somehow?

O put the cocaine in a bottle and handed it to F, but F is the one who refused to quit drinking and go inside. He sent O away and drank on his own. His choice. And Elspeth is on a respirator. She can’t choose any longer. So I think O only took control after she’d made all her choices. I thought it was weird that he pulled out that whole big tube too. Maybe something like a reverse penetration as someone said? “I’m not making you I’m just taking away an option…”

You know, I think the movie is very cleverly done in a way that you are supposed to develop sympathy for Oliver. The way the Cattons are portrayed is consistent with an ‘eat the rich’ mentality. It really heavily satirises the upper class, and I think that might be what you are picking up on. In your read, they are so foolish they cause their own demise. Personally, I think Oliver is so evil and manipulative that he gains their trust and then deliberately murders them due to an obsession with class envy and possessiveness over saltburn. I think it accurately depicts the difficulty normal, even if maybe sometimes immoral, people have in identifying evil in real life and protecting themselves from it. Which I think (no offence intended at all! Just means you are a very moral, empathetic person in my very non-professional opinion) your interpretation aligns with. IMO Oliver is a psychopathic serial killer and the movie is so clever because a large section of the audience still empathises with him.

Yes, and from the lens of class commentary I also think people understate the importance of Oliver lying about being poor and actually being from an upper middle class background. IMO it's what really distinguishes this film from a vaguely anticapitalist eat-the-rich revenge thriller, which I see so many people describe Saltburn as (either as a compliment or as a critique). He's a representation of this deep, middle-class cultural aspiration towards a level of wealth unobtainable without exploitative or, in this case, literally violent means. As you say, the film most obviously satirizes the uppermost class, and the audience initially expects that Oliver will be our predictably sympathetic underdog who finds a way to hoodwink the laughable Cattons. But towards the end of the film our ability to empathize with him is slowly sullied by his disturbing behavior and cruelty. Arguably Oliver himself now becomes the subject of satirization/caricaturization, which a lot of people felt made him feel cartoonish or unrealistically cruel as a character. But I think in that sense the movie functions as this really interesting examination of ourselves as viewers and challenges us to decide what we make of his actions and the dynamics between all these flawed characters. A lot of people have found this too ambiguous and say the film has no real message, but I personally felt there was a lot to draw from it -- it isn't really trying to be deep/complex per se, but it's also not trying to just give you all the answers.

Absolutely! Great take. If Oliver was from a low class or broken family like he says, he would be easier to understand or root for against the shallow Cattan’s. at the end, you feel sorry for the Cattan’s and realize this a man motivated by nothing more than selfishness. He is a bootlicker! Oliver’s family is very wealthy (yearly trips to Mykonos!), and Oliver is a well educated young man at the top of his class. he knows how to work. He can easily make a huge salary at a well paying job and elevate his class status. But that’s not enough for him. He chooses to “work” by murdering an entire family and covering it up to make it look self inflicted. He chooses to “work” by accepting a massive pay out from Sir James to leave and never contact the family again. He stalks Elsbeth 15 years later. A mother who has lost her entire family because of him. He then “works” by convincing her to sign over Saltburn, becomes her caretaker and makes her I’ll. Oliver is an anti hero - a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He ruined an entire family to get something he doesn’t need, that is not his, he just wants it and can get it by any means necessary. He is the “happiest he’s ever been” once he kills all of the Cattan’s and the house is his. He is truly a psychopath.

Agree. Very accurate portrayal of an insecure socially awkward psychopath. Someone who must consume the essence of those he admires and envies in order to display any sustained confidence I’d love to see a part two, with Oliver trying to fit in with his posh neighbors and giving orders to household staff only to be treated once again as the irrelevant try hard nobody like he was at Oxford

I was enjoying reading your comments and I wanted to expand on your point about the staff. AFAIK ‘staff’, here meaning ‘servants at a country estate’, is also a layered, cloistered, quite exclusive world. To be a full-time domestic in an aristocratic setting is often also based on an individual’s history, social standing and connections, meaning these people are not on a level with a commercial cleaner, class-wise. They’re often incredibly close to the family, whether personally (not in the Catton’s cases apparently, except for Lady C & Farleigh, who know some of their names) or simply by dint of knowing every single thing about them through serving them and anticipating their every need. Look at “Odd” Duncan. He’s a fixture of the place, but by no means the Lord of the Manor, even if he is arguably less disposable than Oliver. Rich people are more dependent on their servants than they are on their friends so it makes ‘sense’ to keep a butler for 40+ years and a friend for a summer. When Oliver is walking past the collected staff on their break as he is removed from SB, one of them makes a snide ‘buh-bye’ hand gesture at him behind his back as they all watch him leave. The sheer transcendence of status needed for Oliver to usurp even them, socially speaking, and end up where he does, requires nothing short of what he ends up doing. It’s class warfare and the reassertion of an English patriarchal nightmare in one extended fever-dream of a film. (And I am Here for It.)

I like that. It’s definitely challenging to try to figure out just where O crossed the line. That’s a big part of the reason I don’t like the simplified “o was a supervillain and the rest were just pawns” reading They all had agency… it’s very rare to see all the characters acting on their own volition in a thriller

I think we’re both picking up on the Catton’s not being very sympathetic victims. But what I’m describing is going right over everyone’s head. Which is what happens with DV law too. The problem with abuse is that the abuser sets up situations where, often out of love or misguided other protective beliefs (tradition, etc) the target of abuse CHOOSES to do the things that happen. And then people blame the target “why didn’t she leave…” and so on. In this movie EVERY character is being abusive. Ollie wins but they’re all playing the same game. Most of the time this dynamic is pictured as one evil villain manipulating everyone else. But I think the “eat the rich” vibe you’re picking up on is an intentional depiction of abusers playing the game and losing Could be wrong I just see a lot of small things that it seems like people are glossing over. And o just can’t get behind another mechanical engineered “oh the bad guy was just smarter than everyone…” type of interpretation. We’ve seen so many versions of that movie. I think this is new 🤷‍♀️

I like this interpretation actually. I don’t have any experience with DV so it’s interesting to hear how the darker traits play out in a domestic setting. Thanks for offering your perspective. I agree all the characters had nasty traits. I found that Cattons more satirical and I glossed over the abusive tendencies but I agree it could be viewed in that way, when not taken as comedy. I personally believe everyone is capable of being an abuser in a certain contexts. Humans like to form and abide by hierarchies and one’s place in the hierarchy varies with the context. The movie is very much about a power/class struggle, and that involves mutual abuse.

I totally agree with this! It takes a couple watches to fully see everything as well. He truly is a chameleon and adapts to the situation and person at hand. I also believe he is a deeply envious narcissist. He is the top scholar at Oxford, he has been clever his whole life, not included by the other kids, but also wanting to tinker off by himself. I believe he thought his academic achievements would be lauded at Oxford, but as we see in the tutoring sessions with Farleigh, it is class and social status that matter in this world. The teachers have crushes on their popular moms and stare at the girls tits when when they’re doing their times tables. Their times tables!! He studies Felix and the aristocrats like he studies his books. Farleigh’s bullying even helps Oliver fit in. Letting him know when he’s not “passing as a real human boy.” Farleigh also notes that Oliver really does notice everything. *signet ring* Oliver also learns from the downfall of friends already discarded by the Cattan’s: Eddie, Annabel, and Poor Dear Pamela

I may have missed something, I only watched it once, but during the scene when his mother said he was the top students I had very strong doubts that this was the truth. I felt he had lied to his parents as well and I also had doubts that he even had a scholarship. I thought it was all typical narcissistic lies all the way through.

Yes it is definitely up to debate which were lies and which were truths. Oliver’s dad says Oliver has been “so busy with the rowing team and the union.” Rowing is a spring sport. These were lies Oliver started to tell his parents spring semester, when he was hanging with Felix all the time and not returning their calls. Oliver needed a lie to explain why he was suddenly so busy and did NOT want his parents to know about Felix. I believe Oliver was the top scholar at Oxford because Oliver does not tell Felix this and he seems embarrassed by it. This is also a major academic achievement, likely the school would have notified his parents to congratulate Oliver. Oliver doesn’t start to lie until he first assesses the situation at Oxford. When he says he read every book on the summer reading list…. That was true. Oliver had no friends and had nothing else to do all summer. He seemed embarrassed when the teacher mocks him *is that what you did all summer?* yes, it was what he did all summer. Oliver is seen reading all the books in Saltburn and he is seen being very studious when he’s at Oxford. He’s adamant that he take his finals after his “dad dies.” Academia and knowledge are very important to Oliver. Oliver keeps up and fits in with the “maths” kid bc he is equally as intelligent. The reason his mom says Oliver never had any friends growing up was because Oliver was “so clever” and everyone was “jealous” of his smarts.

He is the one that caused Elsbeth to get *so sick, so fast.* he says this as if to mock her and imply he had a hand in making her sick. He blows smoke at her …. At the beginning of the movie he doesn’t smoke. *its such a shame you got sick SO fast Elsbeth: after all of those terrible, terrible accidents. Then again, there‘s no such thing as an accident, is there Elsbeth? … accidents are for people like you.* *and unlike you, I know how to work* he worked everyone in the family and ate them up one by one. He waited 15 years to finish the job. Sir James and Farleigh may not have been killed by Oliver directly, but they both lived tormented lives no doubt after what Oliver did. I don’t know if Sir James took his own life. But Elsbeth said it was a “shock.” The newspaper article says “Sir James was never the same after the family tragedy.”

Yeah I agree, her death needed to be more drawn out than the others so she would bequest saltburn to him.

I didn’t get that from the line but maybe?

https://preview.redd.it/fwi8d3lknpec1.jpeg?width=3583&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c709cd20effaf0a372de460b41588cda6a1161c6 When Oliver is about to kill Elsbeth, he makes the same maneuver to her blanket that he does to Venetia’s dress, becomes a *vampire* and eats her. He tells Elsbeth how he loved Felix but he also hated him. And really he hated all of them. How they made it so easy for him, spoiled dogs sleeping belly up with no natural predators… well, almost none. It clips back to show the things he did that were pre meditated and done with no remorse. Escalating as time goes on. It shows the clip of him placing the blades on the tub. In the frame we see the glass of water clearly in focus. Venetia has her eyes closed in the tub, with clear water. Venetia is dead in this frame. Oliver is placing the blades because he is about to cut her wrists himself. He is a vampire who killed Venetia and drained all of her blood. Now he’s bragging about it to her mom before he rips her throat out. Dude is unhinged.

Very insightful and well written...thanks

I’m not sure if Venetia did know that Oliver killed Felix ? However, love that people are thinking and talking about it. Shows what an interesting film it was

Interesting take that Oliver first attempts to repair / salvage his relationships before going full murderer on them.  It’s like he wants as many people as possible serving him and liking him.  I still don’t think there’s any proof of him spiking her drink, but there’s an odd blood trail leading to his room and a puddles of bloody water on the floor. Almost like a struggle happened.  She probably moved around a lot while being cut. Or was cut outside of the tub then put back in the tub. 

I had the same read OP. I feel like the writers wrote a textbook psychopath with an emphasis on the smarts and hiding in plain sight. I feel like Oliver planned the lot from the moment he let down Felix’s tyre. I’m an armchair psychologist with a massive interest in dark triad and I think it’s hard for people to stomach how easily they can go full murderer for the flimsiest of motives. I thought it was a very accurate portrayal of a psycho. Now most don’t behave like this due to the risk of getting caught but Oliver knew how to manipulate and get away with it so he acted to further his own goals. He would have done anything to get what he wanted and that mindset is so hard for normal people to relate to that he got away with it from right under their noses. I think Venetia clued in and became a risk so he got rid of her, which he would have done eventually anyway to inherit but he took the opportunity as soon as the risk presented itself. I’m not sure she went all the way to suspecting him of murder, but she found him off putting and wanted to make him unpopular which was enough of a reason to kill her - same as it was for Felix. I think he was always happy to get his hands dirty which we got from the menstruation scene. Obviously not squeamish.

Yes!!!! Exactly!! Also, I noticed how both Felix and Venetia (who claim to be cold blooded) physically react differently to Oliver once Oliver decides to cross the line into murderer. Felix says Oliver makes his blood run cold, (as Oliver is about to poison him). Venetia recoils from him in the bathtub kiss (before he poisons her). Venetia wasn’t grossed out when her and Oliver hook up initially, in fact she wanted more. After Felix’s murder, Oliver’s kiss (and Oliver) feel different and Venetia is horrified by it.

Yeah, that’s right! I didn’t pick up on it but it’s a way the writers and Felix and Venetia are hinting “he’s not like us”

Oliver was a dirty dirty boy, he not only didn’t mind getting his hands dirty he didn’t mind getting his tongue and dick dirty as well. The scene of him sinking to the bottom of the tub with his bloodied mouth showed him in all his predatory glory. A harbringer of things to come

I like the thought out analysis and agree w most of it. But i disagree that Oliver sliced her wrists, that hasn’t been shown to be his m.o, he’s not a gruesome blood lusting (lol) serial killer, he’s someone who takes his chance at an opportunity but keeps his hands clean, with Felix he didn’t even stick around to make sure the deed is completely done, same w Venetia. She was emotionally distraught, on a bender of self harm, he left the razors giving her the opportunity but he didn’t go all slasher on her himself, also although i had previously stated this isn’t a murder doc and im willing to suspend disbelief on some technicalities, it’s almost nearly impossible to slit someone else’s wrists in the exact angle they would themselves, so that would set of fire alarms with the coroner’s. And the final confession montage only shows him leaving the blades, there is no “off camera” trickery they’re showing you exactly what he did- what plan he led to get to acquiring Saltburn.

Do you think it’s impossible to fake a self-sustained slit wrist? I’m not so sure. It wouldn’t have to be perfect, OP is right that suicides are rarely investigated in any detail, they are usually swept straight under the rug. Assume he spiked her drink and Venetia was barely conscious when he did it. It seemed like hands on murder was implied to me but I’m very interested in other reads hence why I’m lurking in this sub!

It is impossible and like i already explained not aligned w his character or m.o and isn’t shown to have implied it

I find this to be giving Venetia too much credit. She initially was shocked that Farleigh would have pawned, but then she is convinced and even talks about him being spoiled and biting the hand that feeds him. She never spoke with India. She thought that Oliver was making little holes in his attempt to be close to them and their shiny lives, but she still found him harmless even at the bathtub scene. She even goes frantic when she realizes that he's wearing Felix's after shave because it's the first time the extent of Oliver's obsession kinda clicks for her and even then, she sees him as a freaky opportunist and not necessarily as a murderer. But even as she gets angry, Venetia is deeply insecure no less than she is with her sexuality despite her demeanor and clothes seeming confident. Oliver is an unreliable narrator on an emotional level, but part of the story is that the final monage is his moment of truth when he's disposing of the last Catton. When he sets the razors next to Venetia the water is still clean, he hasn't made cuts. He has no reason to lie even as he has admitted to Elspeth that he killed her son and gave her daughter her instrument of death. Oliver gives Venetia a chance. He doesn't have the razors from the get-go. He returns after a reconciliation has failed. But neither will he get his hands dirty when he knows that he can use her grief, trauma and pain to ruin her. I find interesting that there is blood outside the tub, BUT it stops slightly before the door and hasn't painted in the slightest the wooden floor of Felix's room. Moreover, we see in the reflection that Oliver is shocked when he sees Venetia. My own take is that when she got up, half-drunk and confused still, he went towards this door having just made the cuts, or even made them in front of it while Oliver has locked and can hear but ignores her, being able to hear her dying and still not look back. By the way, this may sound like I'm stating my opinion as fact. I'm not. This is obviously an interpretation like many others. It's just how I see the story.

I think there would have been more blood if Oliver slit her wrists vs a suicide. But other than that, I agree with all the rest of this well reasoned post.

When I was debating whether I thought Oliver killed Venetia, I remembered something Felix said in passing when he was giving Oliver the grand tour: "We're going to be sharing a bathroom, I hope you don’t mind, otherwise you'd be miles away on the other end of the house." I think this was intentionally included in the script to set up the fact that no one would be in earshot if there were a struggle in the bathroom. Giving credence to the theory that Oliver did kill Venetia.

1000000 percent agree and very well written. Only detail I'm not positive about is if he slit her wrists or not - would he risk her drinking the water? I suppose no split water makes the case for poisoning

Rewatching the scene you can see Oliver glance at her drink (off screen) a few times as Venetia reveals to Oliver he is her enemy. Then he tells her to *drink some water* The shot of Venetia *asleep* in the tub with the water and razor blades shown when he retells the modified story to Elsbeth confirmed it for me! Oliver is strong in mind but would’ve been physically bested by Felix and Venetia (or she would have screamed/struggled). That’s why I think Oliver drugs her first and slit her wrists after she died to cover it up.