Following critical acclaim for her debut featurePromising Young Woman, writer-director Emerald Fennell has drawn mild acclaim for her sophomore feature filmSaltburn, released on Prime Video on Jun 03, 2025. The film is a darkly comedic picaresque that traces the exploits of Oliver Quick (played by Barry Keoghan), a wily schemer who climbs the social ladder after befriending a classmate named Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) at Oxford University.
Due to the twisty nature of the plot, many viewers came away fromSaltburnscratching their heads and wondering what it all meant in the end. After all, Oliver Quick is an unreliable narrator who steers viewers in one direction, only to yank the rug out in the dramatic final act of the film. For those left with serious questions regarding the conclusion ofSaltburn, don’t fret, here’s out it all plays out in the end.
The Set-Up of Saltburn
To understand thedark ending of the black comedy, it’s important to contextualize the beginning ofSaltburnfirst. In 2006, a young man named Oliver Quick arrives at Oxford University and immediately looks and feels out of place. Oliver meets an awkward loner named Michael, whom he spends time with on campus, but is seen eyeing a popular student named Felix Catton. One day, Oliver finds Felix on the road with a flat bicycle tire. Oliver offers Felix to use his bike instead and promises to schlep Felix’s bike back to the campus for him as a favor.
Upon doing such a good deed, Felix instantly befriends Oliver and invites him to hang out with his rich friends and family. As Felix and Oliver get closer, Oliver admits that he comes from a poor family and that his parents suffer from addiction and mental illness. Later, when Oliver tells Felix that his father died back home, Felix invites Oliver to stay with him at Saltburn, a garish estate in the English countryside. Oliver reluctantly agrees and soon ingratiates himself into the aristocratic Catton family. He meets Felix’s parents, Sir James and Lady Elspeth Catton, Felix’s sister Venetia, and their cousin Farleigh.
As Oliver spends more time at Saltburn, his devious nature comes to light. He begins to lie and manipulate the family, seducing Venetia and Farleigh under threatening circumstances. Felix takes Oliver to see his mother, only to learn that Oliver’s father is alive and well and that Oliver comes from an upper-class home. Felix is hurt by Oliver’s dishonesty and tells him to leave Saltburn at once inthe Prime Video comedy movie.
What Appears To Happen in Saltburn
With the summer ending, Sir James and Lady Elspeth decide to throw a party for Oliver’s birthday. Oliver tries to reconcile with Felix, but Felix wants Oliver to leave the premises at once. Suddenly, Felix is found dead on the property the next morning with zero explanation as to what occurred. As the family mourns Felix’s death at his funeral, Lady Elspeth insists that Oliver stay at Saltburn despite Farleigh’s protestations. Venetia confronts Oliver and tells him that he is responsible for ripping their family apart. The following day, Venetia is found dead in the bathtub with slit wrists, suggesting that she took her own life via suicide. Afterward, Sir James bribes Oliver to leave Saltburn immediately due to how close he’s becoming with Lady Elspeth, and Oliver agrees.
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Years later, Oliver has a random encounter with Lady Elspeth in a café. Having read about Sir James' death in the newspaper, Oliver consoles Lady Eslepth. Feeling alone, Lady Elspeth invites Oliver to stay at Saltburn indefinitely. After many months pass, Lady Elspeth falls ill and Oliver nurses her on her deathbed. In the final act of the movie, Lady Elspeth succumbs to her illness and passes away in her bed atSaltburn. Oliver appears to be a do-gooder who takes care of Lady Elspeth out of the kindness of his heart and makes her final days as peaceful as can be. Alas, nothing could be further from the truth.
What Really Takes Place in Saltburn
In a wicked confessional at the end ofthe Amazon Prime Original movie, Oliver tells Lady Eslpeth as she lies dying that he was responsible for the death of every Catton family member. A flashback montage depicts how Oliver orchestrated the entire meeting of the Catton family. He deliberately popped Felix’s bicycle tire as a means of befriending him with a charitable act of kindness. Later on, when Felix rejects him at his birthday party in the hedge maze, Oliver fatally poisons Felix’s cocktail. Despite being one of the few people last seen with Felix, Oliver was never officially questioned following Felix’s demise.
The montage continues to portray Oliver’s murderous manipulation. He purposely placed razor blades beside Venetia’s bathtub when she was at her most vulnerable. Oliver also had Farleigh kicked out of Saltburn by writing a phony email incriminating him, which helped Oliver get away with his crimes. Farleigh was the only one at Saltburn who truly suspected foul play from Oliver, but Oliver used his wits and wiles to eliminate Farleigh before he could expose his crimes. Finally, Oliver is seen killing Lady Elspeth by taking her off life support on her deathbed at Saltburn. Oliver did this on purpose, knowing that Lady Elspeth planned to leave Saltburn and all of her financial assets to Oliver in her last will.
Related:The Most Scandalous Moments in Saltburn
The movie ends with a naked Oliver dancing triumphantly throughout the lavish Saltburn mansion as “Murder on the Dancefloor” blares throughout the house. Oliver not only planned, organized, and executed a master criminal plan to inveigle his way into a wealthy family, murder them, and take their inheritance for himself, but he got away with it all in the end and celebrated his success in a deeply disturbing manner. Despite pretending to be a poor loner without many prospects, Oliver proved to be a liar, cheater, and sexually deviant murderer who plotted and pulled off the scam of a lifetime.Stream on Prime Video.
