You know what the problem with Brideshead Revisited was? Too much Catholicism, not enough gak or wanking in the bath. In her spirited (euphemism for: batshit) sort-of update to Waugh’s English country house classic, the British writer-director Emerald Fennell chucks everything at the screen to see what sticks.
Like its predecessor, Fennell’s debut Promising Young Woman, a rape-revenge black comedy that won her an Oscar for best original screenplay, Saltburn revels in its own provocations and transgressions. It’s Brideshead meets The Talented Mr Ripley meets Tales of the Unexpected. It’s a comedy of manners, a social satire, a riotous farce, a twisted romance and a histrionic melodrama, all in two wildly uneven hours. There’s full-frontal nudity, there are montages, and voiceovers, and there’s a framing device. There are some Class A performances and there’s a plot that loses itself as completely as a rave casualty. This is filmmaking that’s swigging from the Champagne bottle. The result is a bit of a mess, but you can’t fault the energy or the ambitio