Emerald Fennell writes bad behaviour with relish, but her social satire is less sure. We prefer the focused unpleasantness of Promising Young Woman to Saltburn, where the jokes land more reliably than the ideas.
Fi1m perspective
In Saltburn (2023), Oliver Quick is poor and watchful; Felix Catton is rich, kind and never alone. Barry Keoghan's watchfulness and Jacob Elordi's easy sociability give Fennell a clear starting point: someone wants a life that somebody else takes for granted. She is good at making that wanting uncomfortable. The trouble comes when we need to know more about Oliver than what he covets.
She became showrunner and writer for the second series of Killing Eve in 2019, before making her feature debut with Promising Young Woman (2020). We recommend the programme for its funny, unsettling obsession, while giving Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer most of the credit. Her debut gives us a firmer basis for judging her writing: it is nasty, focused and follows one idea through. Saltburn, her second feature, has several and does not develop them far enough.
The people making Saltburn with her understand the attraction of its setting. Cinematographer Linus Sandgren's near-square frame crowds the people and clips the house at its edges; production designer Suzie Davies supplies dark wood, stuffed birds and dust in sunlight. Editor Victoria Boydell compresses weeks of swimming and drinking into summer montage, while composer Anthony B. Willis adds choral grandeur. These choices make the house worth coveting. They also help explain why the film's pleasure in the Cattons' life is more convincing than its criticism of them.
We laughed at the Cattons' rudeness in Saltburn, thanks chiefly to Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant. Their performances make a family who have never been told no worth spending time with. But Farleigh, played by Archie Madekwe, understands what the money does to everyone and is kept at the edge of the story. Fennell gives us less of the character who could make her class satire matter.
With Wuthering Heights (2026), she turns to Emily Brontë's novel. That is ample material for a writer interested in desire and obsession, provided the people receive as much attention as the setting. Start with Promising Young Woman, and approach Saltburn with modest expectations of its satire.
Biography
Emerald Fennell is an English filmmaker, writer and actress. Born on 1 October 1985 in Hammersmith, London, she was educated at Marlborough College and studied English at the University of Oxford, where she began acting in university plays.
She first gained notice as an actress in television series including Call the Midwife (2013–2017) and The Crown (2019–2020). As a writer she contributed to Killing Eve (2018–2019) and wrote the book for the musical Cinderella (2021). Her feature directorial debut was the 2020 film Promising Young Woman, which she also wrote. She wrote, directed and produced the 2023 film Saltburn.
