#ada's asks

First of all THE AESTHETIC OF THIS MOVIE!!! Everything looked so beautiful and I just loved the way they chose to portray everything, I'm a bit of a design and arts nerd so the photography and lighting choices made me so so happy because it fit the movie's mood perfectly

Also, did you know that the title card was made in stop motion and it took like MONTHS to make it because every frame took forever to be hand drawn and animated?

I saw Emerald Fennel comment somewhere that the movie is all about a beauty that drives us mad and I am so not normal about this concept. Like please I just need more of this in my life

I had been spoiled about the "shocking" parts and honestly they were a lot more okay than I imagined based on what my friends were saying lol

BUT NOW TO THE PLOT

I just love the whole unreliable narrator thing. The way the film starts with Oliver's narration and finishes with it - we only ever get to see his point of view of the whole thing and I think the main thing here is how he was drawn to Felix since the beginning. Maybe because Felix represented the life and status he wanted to have, maybe because he was just in love because, well, he says all the time I WASN'T IN LOVE WITH HIM but then we get all of this shots of him just LONGING over Felix and well, yes, I do think he was in love, at least with the idea of him.

I don't think he planned to murder the entire family from the start, I think he wanted to get closer to Felix in that mix of infatuation over him and over his status, I think he was very happy manipulating his family to like him and driving away anyone who could threaten that, like Farleigh. But things kind of get out of control when Felix figures out he's lying and I think also when Farleigh gives him the "you'll never belong here because it's a blood/family thing and you are nothing" speech.

And now he's drunk and heartbroken and angry and then no one even knows his name when they sing Happy Birthday to him and I think he realizes then that even if he gets Felix to forgive him he'll always be just a pet to these people. Their little "poor" friend who's a novelty to all of their rich aristocratic friends and families. I think that's then that he decides to murder Felix.

And there is all this Romeo and Juliet references/subtext, like they both swallow the poison but then Felix is left to die alone because Oliver refuses to drink the poison. I've seen some people saying he was planning to die with him and gave up last minute but I don't think that's what happened, I think he decided to kill Felix that night because he realized he was never gonna have him the way he wanted. I don't think he even wanted to kill anyone else at this point, I think he just kind of wanted to kill Felix and then take his place in the family, to sort of become him.

But then after when he talks to Venetia he realizes that plan's never gonna work because apparently Elspeth is the only one still under his spell. So he's never gonna have Felix, he's never gonna have Felix's place in this family and now Felix's sister and dad know how obsessive and manipulating he is, so he's probably gonna lose his spot in the family as Elspeth's darling real soon, so he kills Venetia as well. Now I don't think he actually kills her in her sleep or something, I think he just knew she was unstable as fuck and left the razors there knowing she would do the work. I think he would have planned something real quick though, had she not taken the bait.

And then there's the ending where he gets everything - Saltburn and probably the family fortune as well - and he finally gets to become and own the beautiful, beautiful things he longed for SO LONG. I've seen people saying Oliver is a genius and stuff, and I think yeah his plan worked for the most part, but only because he adapted and eliminated his prey swiftly. I think his original plan was to be with Felix, so when that couldn't happen he wanted to become Felix, but that went wrong as well, so he resorted to the last option - devouring everything Felix held dear. In the end, he was obsessed with Felix - he loved him, he admitted that himself.

And I do think he was in love as well lol