Defend the indefensible: Emerald Fennell, creator of Promising Young Woman, Saltburn, a series of Killing Eve, probably some other things in years to come

Think she is famous enough for her own thread now, and nobody seems to be talking about Saltburn on here while everywhere else is full of it these last few weeks.

Like most people here (it seems) I hated Promising Young Woman. Fennell seems to have a way of directing actors in this low-key melodramatic style which just rings completely false with me. This was just about acceptable until I realised the film was going to try to have its cake and eat it - this ridiculous style pared with such a serious moral issue did not fit, and that fucking ending just finished me, one of the most stupid things I've ever seen.

So I'm glad I went to see Saltburn without knowing it was the same writer/director/producer. The directing/acting style was not that different from PYW, but rather than attempt to tackle a serious issue, she is by turns mocking and acting out a revenge fantasy on the English upper class, and I'm 100% fine with that. She also seems to know her subject well enough to make fun of it accurately. There were a couple of moments which were ridiculous in the worst way - if you've seen it, the scene with the bathtub and the scene with the grave - and the motivation of the lead character was not particularly coherent. But on the whole it was just a ridiculous high-budget farce and I had a fun time at the cinema, which is far from guaranteed.

I'm on the fence about her after both PYW and Saltburn. She's got energy and some visual style but her ideas are thin when they aren't incoherent. I don't quite get the level of hate I see aimed at her from some places.

I had problems with PYW but overall greatly preferred it to Saltburn; its idiosyncrasies felt more self-assured. There were big stretches of Saltburn where I just sort of lost interest.

She uses Pet Shop Boys to greater effect than All of Us Strangers did.

Yeah, it's not a film I despise: I want more trash! I wish, unlike Camaraderie, this Talented Mr. Ripley descendant had more high camp moments like the bathtub cum-sucking and Keogh's last dance sequence. At this point writing a film so that the mousy nerd turns out to be Hannibal Lecter is tired.

Did anyone get Laurence Harvey vibes from Keogh? The hooded blue eyes, the boxed-in handsomeness, the inability to show affection.

*Keoghan obv. I typed on my phone.

both of these movies are godawful

Still too many films made by hacks who think being rich gives your male wet dreams sharper nipples and beautiful everything.

idk where even to start

saltburn was like what if i did something so trashy but there’s no sense of pacing whatsoever so it’s significantly less exciting and watchable than any given episode of you. really well lit, but that doesn’t help when the images are also boring (why is gravefucking so dully framed?????)

pyw was like reading twitter

The editing is awful. It's a Netflix series reduced to a couple hours. I don't hate it like I do Maestro, but I'm soooo tired of this subject, this approach.

cruel intentions, talented mr. ripley, wild things, these are exciting, involving movies

don't forget Rebecca

I have never seen any movies made by this person but the description in this thread makes me feel like you guys wish there were a new John Waters and there isn't one? Or am I reading this wrong?

^ hitting the nail on the head, imo

“My wish for a new John Waters” isn’t a wish for a specific new John Waters movie but rather a broader “more John Waters, less Merchant Ivory” wish

My least favourite type of bad movie is a “bad gay movie” because I will always have to endure my family recommending it to me

watched Wild Things again not long ago, yeah, nothing in these movies touches that.

I’m the only person alive who likes PYM

Wild Things 2 >>>> Wild Things

Yeah, it's not a film I despise: I want more trash! I wish, unlike Camaraderie, this Talented Mr. Ripley descendant had more high camp moments like the bathtub cum-sucking and Keogh's last dance sequence. At this point writing a film so that the mousy nerd turns out to be Hannibal Lecter is tired.

Agree with Alfred - Saltburn not terrible, but nowhere near excessive enough, and Fennell doesn't wring much that's new out of some fairly familiar jumped-up pantry boy material. Maybe it's an easy target, but I did think Rosamund Pike captured almost exactly the chilling friendliness of the English upper classes, and her line about Common People was v funny. So I think Fennell, being an actor herself, knows something about getting a good performance, and about writing for performers - in other words, she's well on the way to being a v traditional Brit film director. And yes, a lot of the mise en scene was far too on-the-nose - eg antlers and angel wings.

I don't have much of an opinion about Emerald Fennell overall except I like her name and like that as an actress in The Crown she played a pretty good younger version of Camilla Parker Bowles

I enjoyed watching both Promising Young Woman and Saltburn to be honest, they aren't great films but I am struck that these first two feature length films of hers have been entirely about revenge

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/11/how-did-saltburn-become-the-most-talked-about-film-of-awards-season

"Why is this film being talked about so much?"

*glistening ripped shirtless Keoghan lying back on grass shot*

"Such a mystery."

“period film” and the period is 2006-2007. for no discernible reason other than the soundtrack and millennial relatability

That Bloc Party moment was pathetic.

saltburn is probably the movie i have least wanted to see in living memory

She uses Pet Shop Boys to greater effect than All of Us Strangers did.

Disagree

Listen, you, the quality of mercy, etc.

and you hate the PSB!

if I had read this thread, I wouldn't have gone to see it either, imago. but for all its flaws it was still the most fun I've had in a cinema in ages.

It is really the sort of film where the ILX Film Dorks and their ilk will get put on an island and blown up.

I'll admit I don't have anywhere near the level of personal investment in the PSB as I do for gay men playing gay men who cry cathartically on screen in Andrew Haigh films

Just want to say that I too hate Maestro deeply

Well yeah, I mean, who doesn't?

Anonymous Oscar Voter(s)

hoo boy was this a piece of shit

I thought this was ok with the exception of the whole revel at the end which I don't buy and makes several things (like the grave humping) make no sense.

reveal that is

"Reveal, that is!"

https://i.imgur.com/YKDH4dP.jpg

amazing how absolutely none of the beats hit. the bodily fluids were shoehorned in for nothing more than the ick factor, and completely undermined the “twist” that the movie was maybe going for (it was trying to be a twist, right?). the “period” of it all was completely unused (except to make the anachronistic song selection more annoying). the satire of the upper class did not bite, felt more like a message from rich people to other rich people to watch out for those conniving poors

A message for our times, in that sense

Dimes Square Lanthimos

she is by turns mocking and acting out a revenge fantasy on the English upper class, and I'm 100% fine with that. She also seems to know her subject well enough to make fun of it accurately.

Daughter of a jewelry designer, privately educated, Oxbridge. Tbf this is everyone in British media these days.

That explains the name.

why yes i'd love to see a film set during the era and milieu of the most profoundly bovine time of my life, directed by 'emerald fennell'

me when they raze oxbridge to the ground: *sips coffee*

imago, we know you haven't seen and don't want to see the film, it has been firmly established now.

kissinger on my list (voodoo chili) at 12:28 16 Jan 24

amazing how absolutely none of the beats hit. the bodily fluids were shoehorned in for nothing more than the ick factor, and completely undermined the “twist” that the movie was maybe going for (it was trying to be a twist, right?). the “period” of it all was completely unused (except to make the anachronistic song selection more annoying). the satire of the upper class did not bite, felt more like a message from rich people to other rich people to watch out for those conniving poors

lazy, entitled shits who are ripe to be killed off

downton abbey generally better at this

I haven't seen the movies but her season of Killing Eve was a pretty stark and annoying drop in quality.

The rich can afford to be nihilists because moving sideways is still moving in comfort.

I have only seen two episodes of Downton but it seemed on balance to be much more sympathetic to the family than this is.

not surprising as Baron Julian Fellowes is literally a sitting conservative member of the house of lords

I think Chuck was being slightly tongue in cheek in suggesting that an uncritical celebration of these types by a tory true believer is the best way to expose their evil.

ok, I can support downton from an accelerationist pov, just as long as I don't have to watch it

there was an attempt at satire, sure, but besides for pike’s character there was nothing there besides what the actor gave them.

the “common people” line was funny

I think there is a tendency for British screenwriters to lean on "amoral black comedy" as a genre, it plays up to a narcissistic belief that they're able to "tell the truth in a way Hollywood can't" etc. etc.
Same in Canada, but they're better at it.

Been a bit of 'social horror' coming out of the UK lately. All My Friends Hate Me was not terrible but also, not great. They made it convincingly uncomfortable at least

Haven't seen this yet, and probably won't, but I knew the general beats of the movie and that there was some sort of twist, ran it by my back-from-school daughter and was bummed that my guess was wrong. I guessed that Barry was up to badness the whole time but the twist would be the rich family kills *him* and desecrates his corpse before eating him, Greenaway-style.

I buy my emerald fennel at the farmer’s market

there was an attempt at satire, sure, but besides for pike’s character there was nothing there besides what the actor gave them.

the “common people” line was funny

― kissinger on my list (voodoo chili), Tuesday, January 16, 2024 7:18 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

pike is easily the highlight of the film. i feel like the common people line was nearly embarrassing but her delivery cinched it

It’s odd… Barry Keoghan feels decidedly inescapable to me, but I realized today that I’ve only actually seen him in three films (Dunkirk, Sacred Deer, Inshirin) and a TV show (Chernobyl). Good on him for making such an impression!

I've seen him in a surprising number of things. In addition to your three/four, also '71, The Eternals, and THe Green Knight.

Oh, I did see Eternals also. Maybe it's also his cat-like appearance, he reminds me of a neighbourhood pet

Heh. Yeah, like a stray that's been taken in but still has one suspicious/restless eye back on the street.

Lmao

Agree with Alfred - Saltburn not terrible, but nowhere near excessive enough, and Fennell doesn't wring much that's new out of some fairly familiar jumped-up pantry boy material. Maybe it's an easy target, but I did think Rosamund Pike captured almost exactly the chilling friendliness of the English upper classes, and her line about Common People was v funny. So I think Fennell, being an actor herself, knows something about getting a good performance, and about writing for performers - in other words, she's well on the way to being a v traditional Brit film director. And yes, a lot of the mise en scene was far too on-the-nose - eg antlers and angel wings.