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| The Shining / Saltburn |
The biggest praise I have for Saltburn is that Rosemund Pike was finally given a role worthy of her talents. I don’t care if you like Saltburn or not (I thought it was “fine” overall). But I don’t think it can be denied that once she appears in the film around the 30-something minute mark - the tone completely changes. I mean that in the best way possible. The movie just instantly becomes better. It’s a testament to her aura. Richard Grant’s performance shouldn’t go unnoticed nor should Barry Keoghan’s (this is yet another example of how he shines best when he plays a deceptive little freak like in The Killing Of A Sacred Deer).
But this isn’t a review of Saltburn. Enough has already been said about the movie. We don’t need another opinion on it floating around. I also get that some folks don’t like Emerald Fennell or her films because she’s a privileged white person that has said some weird things in interviews but we’re not here for that. I don’t care. Please save those think-piece criticisms for Letterboxd, tik tok or an extra long Twitter/X thread that I will be sure to scroll past.
What I’m most fascinated with are the film’s influences and how open Fennell has been about her cinematic reference points (while not every film referenced in Saltburn is easily recognizable - the amount of reference points are almost on the same level as something like Pulp Fiction).
I found it strange that there were so many video packages of her talking about her influences with almost no actual side-by-side comparisons in said video packages so I went ahead and complied some. I’m sure I missed a few so please make sure to share some you feel I may have left out (again - this is just about references. I don’t care if you hated Saltburn or not).
Kubrick’s dedication to building a world to making a film is something that I have always kind of looked to - Emerald Fennell, IGV Presents
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Even without these quotes it’s pretty obvious that just about any modern thriller that takes place inside of a big mansion is going to get some comparison Kubrick’s The Shining…
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| The Shining / Saltburn |
Fennell is also just big fan of Kubrick all together:
We can thrill to the transgressive behaviour of [violent gang] the droogs in the way we can thrill to the transgressive behaviour of Saltburn's utterly entitled snobs - Ermerald Fennell, The Face Magazine
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| A Clockwork Orange / Saltburn |
But putting the obvious Kubrick/Shining influence aside, Fennell pulls from other classic psychological thrillers that take place primarily within a home/mansion like The Servant and The Innocents
I think it [The Servant]’s one of the all-time great movies - Emerald Fennell, IGV Presents
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| The Servant / Saltburn |
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| The Servant / Saltburn |
If you're familiar with both films then you might notice that Fennell essentially splits up the Hugo Barrett Servant character in to both Oliver and Duncan from Saltburn
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| The Servant / Saltburn |
The use of space in the house itself is kind of unbelievably well used and is very much like a character in its own which is kind of very important to me when thinking about something like Saltburn - Emerald Fennell, IGV Presents
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| The Innocents / Saltburn |
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| The Innocents / Saltburn |
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| The Innocents / Saltburn |
there's a very famous shot across a pond with a woman across a pond with a woman just sitting in some reads that I think it is one of the most brilliant horror shots ever made - Emerald Fennell, IGV Presents
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| The Innocents / Saltburn |
She also pulls from older British films like Kind Hearts and Coronets…
I think it’s really sort of perceptive about the British class system and kind of quite a dangerous satire - Emerald Fennell, IGV Presents
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| Kind Hearts and Coronets / Saltburn |
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| Kind Hearts and Coronets / Saltburn |
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| Kind Hearts and Coronets / Saltburn |
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| Kind Hearts and Coronets / Saltburn |
Fennell does draw inspiration from more modern filmmakers like Sofia Coppola...
Sofia Coppola is a great example of the modern American Gothic - Emrald Fennell, Glamour Magazine
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| The Virgin Suicides / Saltburn |
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| Marie Antoinette / Saltburn |
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| Marie Antoinette / Saltburn |
To my surprise Fennell was also influenced by a personal favorite of mine: Peter Greenaway…
The cook the thief, the Wife, and his Lover and The Draftsman's Contract were huge - Emerald Fennell, Tumblr
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| The Draughtsman's Contracts / Saltburn |
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| The Draughtsman's Contracts / Saltburn |
Hitchcock can also be found all over her latest film…
That's the thing I love so much about Hitchcock, obviously bar the slightly unsavory elements of his character, but as a filmmaker, he loved doing it. He had such a fun time. We did too with this movie. I mean, it was hard going, but we had the best time making it - Emerald Fennell, Forbes
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| Psycho / Saltburn |
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| Vertigo / Saltburn |
