Why 'Saltburn' Was Such A Hit Despite Its Horrific Scenes

Research shows that the horrific nature of the hit comedy-turned-thriller, 'Saltburn,' was intentional, and is a testament to the film's success.

By Mark Travers, Ph.D. | February 13, 2024

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Saltburn.

The 2023 comedy-turned-thriller Saltburn, directed and written by Emerald Fennell, has broken the internet. With notable stars, such as Jacob Elordi and Rosamund Pike, and their riveting performances, the film was a hit—earning over $20.3 million in its first two months. Yet, it was Barry Keoghan's performance that left viewers most astonished.

The film was filled with an array of twists and turns, and featured scenes from Keoghan so graphically brutal, sexual and humiliating that viewers felt like they were watching a train wreck: left not wanting to watch, but unable to look away.

Since the film's release, social media users globally have engaged in nonstop debate regarding which scenes were the most mortifying to watch. The lack of consensus on this debate stands as a testament to Fennell's impressive creation of a truly psychologically thrilling film—one that uses tactfully subliminal techniques to leave viewers unsettled and disturbed.

The Hardest Scenes To Watch In Saltburn, According To Viewers

Saltburn follows Oliver Quick, portrayed by Keoghan, and his journey from protagonist to antagonist. After befriending his aristocratic, charming classmate Felix Catton, Oliver is invited to the peculiar Catton family estate. The plot takes a dark turn as Oliver engages in disturbing actions, unveiling a false background.

When the truth surfaces, Oliver's manipulations lead to a tragic fallout, resulting in the suspicious deaths of Felix and his sister. In the aftermath, Oliver admits to orchestrating these deaths to inherit the Catton family fortune, revealing the depth of his deceit and malevolence.

From start to end, Saltburn has been described as agonizingly captivating. As Oliver's behavior and psyche unravels, Keoghan's performances become increasingly shocking. Some of the honorable mentions in the category of most terribly hard-to-watch scenes include Oliver engaging in manual and oral sex with a menstruating female, as well as Oliver ripping the endotracheal ventilator out of Felix's mother's throat. However, the three scenes dominating the discussion were far harder to watch, according to the viewers.

• The first and most infamous scene dominating the Saltburn debate is one in which Oliver drinks bathwater from the drain of a tub that Felix had masturbated in, resulting in X posts such as, "I finally watched Saltburn, and absolutely nothing could've prepared me for the bathwater scene."
• The second scene is similarly disturbing and sexual in nature, in which Oliver intensely grieves Felix's death while engaging in solo sexual acts using the soil of his gravesite. This visceral scene also resulted in an outpouring of social media posts, with one X user stating, "That Saltburn grave scene left me quite traumatized."
• However, the third and one of the hardest-to-watch scenes was nowhere near as graphically sexual or violent as the rest of the film. This scene involved Oliver ordering an over-easy egg from the Cattons' butler and sheepishly asking it to be remade upon seeing the runniness of the yolk.

A TikTok user's video regarding the scene—with nearly 700,000 likes and over 3,000 comments—states, "I wasn't phased by the bath scene; I didn't even blink at the grave scene. However, the egg scene? I had to look away." Many viewers have referred to the second-hand embarrassment of this scene feeling awfully long-lasting.

The Psychological Techniques That Make Saltburn So Mortifying

The unsettling feelings viewers are left with following Saltburn's graphic scenes are the product of a subliminal technique known as "psychological distancing," a tool usually used individually to separate ourselves from people, ideas or events we don't like.

According to one study, psychological distancing in film refers to the way in which four dimensions of distance—between the viewer and the character—are manipulated to influence the viewer's appraisal of a character. These four dimensions are:

1. Temporal distance — when the scene occurs
2. Social distance — how socially relatable the character is to the viewer
3. Hypothetical distance — how realistic the scene feels
4. Spatial distance — how physically far away the scene seems to take place from the viewer

By tactfully manipulating these four dimensions of distance throughout Saltburn, Fennell is able to unsettle viewers—both before and after Oliver's evil turn.

For instance, the bathtub scene was shot incredibly close up, forcing viewers to take the entirety of it in. Oliver's yearning for Felix was also an understandable experience to viewers, making his actions seem realistic. Further, the scene occurs near the beginning of the film, before Oliver's lies are revealed. At this point, Oliver still felt like a relatable character to viewers, making his act feel all the more nauseating.

The graveyard scene took place near the end of the film, after Oliver's deception was brought to light; this made it very hard to sympathize with his horrifically sexual grief, as he was no longer relatable. The scene was also shot in a manner that placed the viewer directly next to the gravesite, and lasted nearly three minutes, making Oliver's sobs, undressing and deliberate sexual movements feel uncomfortably close and realistic.

The egg scene was, however, the most plausibly hard-to-watch due to it taking place before either of the previous scenes. Oliver was most relatable at this point in the film, leading viewers to feel his embarrassment as their own, out of sympathy. This form of humiliation was also the most mundane and true to life out of all, making it even more hard-hitting. The scene was also shot as if the viewer would be sitting with him at the table, making the vicarious embarrassment feel inescapable.

Conclusion

Fennell's masterful use of psychological distancing in crafting Saltburn contributes significantly to the brilliance and disturbing nature of the work. The unsettling emotions that linger with viewers after witnessing the film's graphic scenes were not arbitrary; they were intended. This style successfully contributed to the creation of a memorable film that will disturb many for years to come.

Do you enjoy what most find hard to watch? Take this personality test to find out: The Morbid Curiosity Scale

A similar version of this article can also be found on Forbes.com, here.