Fergus Saint-John

As (mostly) everyone creams themselves over “Saltburn” and praises the “daring” & “provocative” and “shocking” scenes in the film, I’ve yet to see any reviewer here discuss the damaging & dangerous representation in the Queer main character. Emerald Fennell, a upper-middle class born Englishwoman, privately educated and heterosexual, has created a character in Oliver Quick that reeks of the insane, morally corrupt, psychotic queer characters from the 70’s & 80’s movies that demonized our community and culture, created unnecessary suspicion of us, caused mental and physical harm and hampered us from moving forward in society. Her having a spiel about this being a satire on class, representation, inequality et al drives the film towards a legitimate acceptance of this appalling portrayal of our Queer tribe. Saltburn is, at best, an overly long made for tv movie sold as a “black comedy”(?) and “social commentary “. The marketing/reviewers have positioned it as “daring” & “incisive”…. even “brave”. It is not any of these things; if you want to look at better writing & direction watch “Brideshead Revisited” (original) or “The Line of Beauty”, or Bertolucci's "The Dreamers" all of which Emerald Fennel rips off to a much lesser screen result.

Am I missing something??? the previous reviews seem to be watching something else.... this should be SO much better than it is. Meera Syal is working off some really dodgy scripts & direction with really nonsensical situations ( I am 3 eps in, and #1 is still baffling too me), and that son of hers...so badly written, and isn't he like 35(?) and still talking like a Grange Hill school student AND living at home..which should be an awesome premise for some brilliant, intergenerational, familial, cultural situations and basically all he does is abuse his mother...??? and sadly she takes it! Really questionable dynamics and gender expectations. The cop dude alternates moods like he is suffering some chemical imbalance, and there is NO way he would get away with speaking to his co-workers like such a prick without HR busting him. considering where it is positioned among Shakespeare & Hathaway, Agatha Raisin, Death in Paradise, Father Brown et al it lacks humour and interesting characters, Mrs. Sidhu really being the only one, and honestly thats not saying much. Clear the house and get new creative writers in or get a script/director doctor.