Film Shapes

Emerald Fennell's excoriating follow up to Promising Young Woman skewers class and privilege with louche insouciance. Barry Keoghan plays Oliver, a needy, slightly pathetic scholarship student and he's in stellar form. As a 'Johhny-no-mates' at Oxford University, an opportunity arises to ingratiate himself with the cool folks on campus, led by Felix (a surprisingly excellent Jacob Elordi). The humour in this is just one of many drawcards. It's all played with a rigidly straight bat and there's an uneasy sting to it. The first inkling of this is a perfect outburst at a common room dinner - not so crucial in the wash up, but a great indicator of things to come. Oliver's underprivileged family situation presses Felix to invite him home to his parents' estate for the summer, the evocatively named, Saltburn. Here is where things begin to ramp up. Aside from the folks, Sir James and Elspeth (played with pitch perfect timing by Richard E. Grant and Rosamund Pi...