If “Promising Young Woman” was Emerald Fennell’s darkly comic take on the rape-revenge thriller — one that rode a zeitgeisty wave of discourse onto a best original screenplay Oscar in 2021 — “Saltburn” is the writer-director’s entry in the country house canon.
The film (in theaters) is the latest in a subgenre ripe for dramatic tension: upstairs versus downstairs; invited versus interloped; public versus private.
In “Saltburn,” Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), a shy Oxford student, accepts an invitation to spend the summer at the family estate of a wealthy classmate, Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi).
While there, Oliver’s adoration for the charming aristocrat reveals itself to be much more than an innocent infatuation.
Here are five other films where summering at a country house leads to significant power imbalances and lifelong consequences.
Persons:
”, Oscar, Saltburn, ” Oliver Quick, Barry Keoghan, Felix Catton, Jacob Elordi, Ripley ”
Organizations:
Oxford
Locations:
revel