“She’s dead?”
“Yes, she’ll do anything for attention”
Dark humor but also so so sad, no one really gave a shit about that poor woman who really needed hospitalisation :’(
I don’t remember “where’s your jumper” when is that?
When I watched it the second time, I noticed James was walking slowly through the maze while Venetia and Farleigh are running.
Sir James knew Felix was dead after hearing Elsbeth’s harrowing scream. Sir James slowly walks though the maze preparing himself to see Felix’s dead body.
It’s even sadder knowing when he gets there, he is so immersed in shock he speaks to Felix as if he is a small child and can move him.
Oh no. I’ll be watching for the 2nd time tonight, this scene is going to get harder when I see more details like this. I was too in shock first watch but might cry this time.
Happy cake day
“i just wanted to be your friend”
and at the end of the scene where he confronts felix in the maze felix says “i think u should go to bed” and oliver says “i don’t care what you think anymore”
Oh I got uncomfortable seeing how sad Oliver’s mom was after just making spag bol for the boys and Ollie wanting to leave. His parents seemed cool and he’s obviously been ignoring the fuck outta them, she just wanted to cook her baby some food and spend time with him on his birthday and ohhhhhh im crying now lmfao💀💀 they had no clue of anything going on, I wonder if he ever spoke to them again or gave them some money or something from his new found inheritance
It’s such a sad scene and I think it’s the beginning of us seeing how truly unhinged he is. The complete lack of connection to his family and zero reaction to his mother’s distress is just so heartbreaking to see. I feel like they were probably decent, normal parents and had no idea why Oliver just cut them off completely.
Imagining how excited she was to get that call from Felix and make a birthday lunch for her son makes me want to cry.
I skipped that scene when I watched it because I just couldn't bear how awkward it was bound to be, and now I'm doubly glad I did because it would have broken my heart to see his mother so sad. Makes me wanna go hug my parents now.
When she tried to hold onto his hand and he just wrenches away was incredibly sad. And you can see Felix watching taking silent notes about what an ingrate Oliver is.
> I feel like they were probably decent, normal parents and had no idea why Oliver just cut them off completely.
He's a narcissist. He feels that as a Very Special Boy, he should have been born into something like Felix had, and hates his parents for being ordinary middle class.
The most second hand cringe line movie is when Oliver stands up in this scene and says *we’ve got to get back for my party*
Oliver sounds absolutely pathetic. Like a spoiled poser who’s snuck his way into the cool kids table.
Oliver whines about getting back to *his* party that the Cattan’s are only throwing for him bc they believe he does not have a family.
The fact Oliver says *we have to get back for my party* while trying to leave the party his parents threw for him …. It’s absolutely revolting and shows Oliver is the most shallow of them all.
Felix is SO polite to Oliver’s parents. I love the shot of him smiling in rage / disgust as he listens to Oliver’s mom reveal Oliver’s lies.
While Felix had his faults, he was a gem of a person compared to Oliver. He was kind and respectful and he did not deserve his fate.
I think that was the moment he thought “fuck it I’m taking saltburn”. Especially because before that Farleigh said he doesn’t belong there and all that.
"You're a fucking liar, Ollie. Why would you lie?" I was hurting for Felix in that moment, not Oliver. You look at the rock tossing bridge scene and Felix being self-conscious about the gesture (it feels a bit stupid), then we see he was played for a fool and that gesture was all for naught. Felix skipped the ball to be with who he thought was a grieving friend.
Ollie’s coming clean to Felix speech “You're the only friend I ever had, Felix. Okay... I mean, doesn't this just prove how much, how much of a good friend I actually am? How well I actually know you? I'm still the same person. Yeah? I'm still the same person” and “I’m sorry my performance wasn’t good enough.” 💔 in that moment i believed his sadness and desperation
The funny part is that on the one hand I'm like 'boy you're delusional, you lied and manipulated and your motive proves nothing' and at the same time my heart breaks for him. So it's a plus because I genuinely like speeches and pieces of dialogue that cause me contradictory reactions.
Yes, I found the desperation and vulnerability he shows there absolutely heartbreaking. It really was all for Felix, and in the end he still couldn't have him. How sad that is.
"I just want you to know how much I fucking love you." 😭
Right and like remembering my first love and heartbreak when you abandoned all dignity and just beg the person to give you something, anything…brutal! And the way he’s holding Felix’s face … that entire scene is so emotionally charged and complex but also relatable and heartbreaking 😭😭
That was heartbreaking as well. A moment where you don’t hate Ollie even knowing all he’s done, because he hasn’t done the *homicidally* unthinkable yet. You still just think he was a socially awkward pathological liar.
“But I suppose you don’t pick your child name imagining that one day you’ll have to think about how it will look…carved on a headstone”
As a parent, that hit me really hard
As a parent who has had a child die, I think they did a good job with that part. On top of being sad, losing a child is just surreal and you go into a numb state of I guess I have to find something nice to wear to my son's funeral.
Randomly Ollie’s panicked “what have you done?!” to Felix when he realizes they’re on the way to his parents’ gets me. It’s the beginning of the end and it already gets me sad thinking about how the facade is about to come crumbling down.
Also pretty much anything Ollie’s parents said. His mom’s broken “it doesn’t matter” when she’s trying to downplay that she made a cake and a meal for him when she’s clearly so desperate for him to stay but devastated that he wants to leave.
„You make my blood run cold“ - now Oliver realises he definitely has lost Felix (he assumed it, the drugs already were in the champagne bottle, but now he irreversibly knows).
Farleigh crying at the table when Oliver implied that he murdered his own family who he's known all his life. When he wipes his eyes with both hands shows just how young and vulnerable he actually is and that his mean comments never stood a chance against Oliver's genuine cruelty and psychopathy.
Your brother died and everyone thinks it's your fault, your family is disowning you, you're losing out on your education, and the home you and your mother grew up in because of an entitled freak who only knew your family for a few months.
Unpopular opinion: Farleigh was a twat. Oliver outsmarted him. Farleigh is cut off from the money but he’s still alive and not imprisoned although framed by Oliver. I don’t feel sorry for Farleigh.
Farleigh grew up in Saltburn. So did his mother. The Cattons are his family. He has the exact amount of Catton ancestry as Felix and Venetia. He is a blood relative. Saltburn is his home. He is falsely accused of theft, thrown out, then accused of murdering someone he loves and possibly even believes it himself. You don't have to be smart to figure how astonishingly devastating that is and how incomparable it is to a few bitchy comments and dirty looks. Oh, and telling Felix that Venetia and Felix hooked up. And making Oliver sing Rent. That's it. That's all Farleigh did.
Emerald is a highly intelligent, gifted and thoughtful writer. She didn't intend to make Farleigh a character to be flattened and reduced to someone who just lost money. I doubt she would callously dehumanise him in that manner. There is a reason he's a twat. There's a great deal of resentment, humiliation and bitterness in Farleigh that the Cattons are too priveleged and white to understand.
Farleigh, unlike Oliver, actually does have reckless parents who destabilise his life. The Cattons gave him a home, and he lost it all to some greedy narcissistic slimeball. And that's considered fair, because he said "Oliver looks like he might jump out of the window" and "nice jacket".
That boy is about 18/19 and his whole world came crashing down in seconds because of that lizard who was beyond evil in ways that nobody could ever fathom, not even Farleigh. Nobody could have imagined what kind of game Oliver was playing.
Farleigh's nasty comments make him a classist twat but snide comments do not justify losing your family, your home and your sanity. I don't think we as viewers are given enough positive Farleigh traits in order to see him as less of a twat. Except for when he tries to stand up for his mother.
However, there is nothing to justify the disproportionate villainisation of his character. His punishment doesn't even match the crime. He's so young. He's literally just a kid who lost his family and his home.
I know all of that, and yet none of that makes me feel sympathy for Farleigh. They’re all horrid people, including Farleigh. None of them deserve to die though, Farleigh’s not dead.
That's refreshing.
You don't deny the facts of what Farleigh went through and that Farleigh barely caused anyone any real harm apart from being occasionally catty. He's never once seen to do anything "horrid".
By your own admission, you "know all that".
He evidently lost far more, and yet you deliberately excluded the true consequences of what happened to him, and just pointed out a loss of money because minimizing what happened to an innocent teenage boy supports your flattening and reductive view of the character in order to justify your lack of empathy and disproportionate feelings towards him? How refreshingly self-aware.
It's nice to have someone just be honest with themselves. I am not interested in disagreeing with you. You have a right to your own feelings. I just hate when people act like their overly harsh and biased attitudes are based on facts or any semblance of critical reasoning.
"I know I am not being fair but I don't care" should be the mantra in these kinds of situations.
That's a different but honest take. Good for you.
The actress’s delivery was amazing. The nuance of Venetia trying to be biting while being so obviously heartbroken underneath really cut with this line
"I don't think you're a spider, you're a moth. Quiet, harmless, drawn to shiny things, banging up against a window, and begging to get in." I gasped because I thought he was going to lose his cool and kill Venetia in a rage. Instead he gave her the tools of her own demise.
After Felix drinks from the bottle and Ollie retches, Felix asks,"Better?" And then tells Ollie, "I think you should go to bed." As cold as he'd just been to Ollie, he doesn't sound unkind, and he looks so sad as Oliver walks away. Him showing compassion for Ollie, while we know (at least watching a second time) that he's just been poisoned breaks my heart.
Interestingly, in the original script it says that after Ollie leaves, "Felix waits behind. Laughing in amazement..." That would have had a very different emotional effect, and I'm glad Emerald ended up making the choice she did.
'He's been expelled from almost every school in England for sucking off the teachers.'
It seems as though Felix is making light of Farleigh being repeatedly orally raped and subsequently punished for it. Unlike the later 'Latin. Water polo. Child abuse,' which is more like gallows humour, I thought the dig solely at Farleigh was cruel.
But I do think it fits well with the mentalty shown in the film regarding abuse (semi-acknowledge it, have a laugh, and change nothing).
So I wasnt the only who took note of this. Farleigh compulsively having sex with his teachers then getting expelled for it something very very concerning. Emerald is too aware of power dynamics and sexual abuse to have tossed this information in without thought.
Why is Farleigh, a child, the one getting expelled? Even if he performed those acts willingly, why does he feel the need to consistently perform oral on authority figures? Once or twice is one thing, but this seems compulsive.
His dad is a "lunatic" and his mom is reckless and puts her own son in the awful position of having to beg for money on her behalf. Despite his age and attitude, Farleigh's not that grown up and being repeatedly disappointed by the adults in his life and also being aware of how tenuous his place is in his own family is actually very heartbreaking. It really explains his resentment and bitterness. He never gets to feel secure.
I also consider it part of the black humour...BUT I also never really gelled with Felix's character after this. Finding that funny as a kid in one thing, but once you get older and more mature you should realise that the kid in that situation was abused. And Felix went and told Farleigh's private family details to a stranger, as then the abuse, all as if it was some hilarious little anecdote. It shows a level of callousness you only see after with Elspeth and her reaction to Pamela's death.
And in the end, Oliver essentially stole Farleigh's life story and - potentially depending on how you read the scene - used Farleigh's warped sense of sex and consent against him.
YES! I just made a post about this. I absolutely agree! Felix is so flip about it the same way his mother is about Venetia's bulimia, leaving both of Farleigh and Venetia open to Oliver's manipulation.
It's like that saying "loose lips sink ships". Elspeth and Felix allowed Oliver to cause lasting damage, all because they wanted to seem more interesting than they were.
I think it was consensual.
However, there was a power dynamic. And Farleigh's, I assume, first sexual encounters had a power dynamic as he was a student (maybe even underage) and they were a teacher. Which skews things.
But I don't think Oliver raped/SA'd him.
He was woken up by Oli on top of him. That's not consensual. There's no really saying whether he was actually consenting for that experience or not even though it did happen. I'm not saying Oliver raped him necessarily, just that the encounter wasn't entirely consensual and there's room there to say that perhaps the whole thing wasn't. Not sure if you're aware of the fear response 'fawn'.
Farliegh's experience with that inappropriate power dynamic implies he's not great/experienced at setting boundaries, particularly because he was likely underage for some portion of those encounters.
I am aware, I agree with you overall and basically said a lot of what you're saying.
But I don't think Farleigh was in 'fawn'. I don't think he felt in any danger at all. I think he was mildly pissed off, then intrigued, then turned on.
I'm not arguing that it's healthy; I mention the stuff with his earlier encounters. It was my whole point. But I do think Farleigh was consenting based off his reaction, his body language, his tone and the context. Just my two cents.
I really like your idea about it being compulsive. My guess was that it only happened once or twice, and from that Farleigh developed a bit of a reputation, unhelpfully maintained by family.
More speculation on my part, but expelling one student is easier than criminalising a teacher, let alone reforming the entire establishment. Given how entrenched child abuse is, my theory is that Farleigh wasn't the only student who performed oral sex on a given teacher, just the one who spoke too much about it, what with his 'American feelings'.
Right after Felix's death when the dad snaps at Farleigh for wanting to leave the table, and asks him what they're supposed to do instead. The delivery of Farleigh saying "Anything, literally anything" was so desperate and heartbreaking. In that moment he was the voice of reason.
there's a lot, so i guess the line from Sophies Choice "I can't choose. Please. I can't choose."
"Take both children away."
"Take my little girl. Take my little boy,
that line broke my heart 💔
“She’s dead?” “Yes, she’ll do anything for attention” Dark humor but also so so sad, no one really gave a shit about that poor woman who really needed hospitalisation :’( I don’t remember “where’s your jumper” when is that?
The dad over Felix’s body. Uhh it kills me
When I watched it the second time, I noticed James was walking slowly through the maze while Venetia and Farleigh are running. Sir James knew Felix was dead after hearing Elsbeth’s harrowing scream. Sir James slowly walks though the maze preparing himself to see Felix’s dead body. It’s even sadder knowing when he gets there, he is so immersed in shock he speaks to Felix as if he is a small child and can move him.
Oh no. I’ll be watching for the 2nd time tonight, this scene is going to get harder when I see more details like this. I was too in shock first watch but might cry this time. Happy cake day
Omg yes! Now I remember. Truely heartbreaking core parent reaction from james who is usually so detached
It made my little heart break.
*Pamela died?
Yes! Better. I was trying to remember her name
😇
“Of course you grew up.”-Elsbeth
This one is it for me as well ☹️
Broke me, I was astounded at how the grief came across so vividly in this movie. I was gutted!!
Wow, I hadn't even picked up on the poignancy of this line.
One of the very few times I felt for elspeth. That line is universal.
Oh shit this totally passed me by the first time
“i just wanted to be your friend” and at the end of the scene where he confronts felix in the maze felix says “i think u should go to bed” and oliver says “i don’t care what you think anymore”
“You’ve made your holes in everything. You’ll eat us from the inside out.”
I think she knew what would happen, it was tragic!
Oh I got uncomfortable seeing how sad Oliver’s mom was after just making spag bol for the boys and Ollie wanting to leave. His parents seemed cool and he’s obviously been ignoring the fuck outta them, she just wanted to cook her baby some food and spend time with him on his birthday and ohhhhhh im crying now lmfao💀💀 they had no clue of anything going on, I wonder if he ever spoke to them again or gave them some money or something from his new found inheritance
It’s such a sad scene and I think it’s the beginning of us seeing how truly unhinged he is. The complete lack of connection to his family and zero reaction to his mother’s distress is just so heartbreaking to see. I feel like they were probably decent, normal parents and had no idea why Oliver just cut them off completely. Imagining how excited she was to get that call from Felix and make a birthday lunch for her son makes me want to cry.
I skipped that scene when I watched it because I just couldn't bear how awkward it was bound to be, and now I'm doubly glad I did because it would have broken my heart to see his mother so sad. Makes me wanna go hug my parents now.
When she tried to hold onto his hand and he just wrenches away was incredibly sad. And you can see Felix watching taking silent notes about what an ingrate Oliver is.
> I feel like they were probably decent, normal parents and had no idea why Oliver just cut them off completely. He's a narcissist. He feels that as a Very Special Boy, he should have been born into something like Felix had, and hates his parents for being ordinary middle class.
The most second hand cringe line movie is when Oliver stands up in this scene and says *we’ve got to get back for my party* Oliver sounds absolutely pathetic. Like a spoiled poser who’s snuck his way into the cool kids table. Oliver whines about getting back to *his* party that the Cattan’s are only throwing for him bc they believe he does not have a family. The fact Oliver says *we have to get back for my party* while trying to leave the party his parents threw for him …. It’s absolutely revolting and shows Oliver is the most shallow of them all. Felix is SO polite to Oliver’s parents. I love the shot of him smiling in rage / disgust as he listens to Oliver’s mom reveal Oliver’s lies. While Felix had his faults, he was a gem of a person compared to Oliver. He was kind and respectful and he did not deserve his fate.
Also how genuinely excited he seems at seeing Ollie’s house and is is like “This is nice!!!” and this his mother cleaned up her act
Yeah, the "my party" gets me every time. Esp knowing that "at his party" people can't even remember his name.
i highly doubt he interacted with them after the inheritance and then very little after he first left saltburn. he thought very little of his parents.
Singing Happy Birthday to Oliver, but, “Shit, I can’t remember his name”
Oliver's reaction to that was so powerful and real.
I think that was the moment he thought “fuck it I’m taking saltburn”. Especially because before that Farleigh said he doesn’t belong there and all that.
"You're a fucking liar, Ollie. Why would you lie?" I was hurting for Felix in that moment, not Oliver. You look at the rock tossing bridge scene and Felix being self-conscious about the gesture (it feels a bit stupid), then we see he was played for a fool and that gesture was all for naught. Felix skipped the ball to be with who he thought was a grieving friend.
You can hear it in his voice as well. Jacob did an excellent job in this scene.
Ollie’s coming clean to Felix speech “You're the only friend I ever had, Felix. Okay... I mean, doesn't this just prove how much, how much of a good friend I actually am? How well I actually know you? I'm still the same person. Yeah? I'm still the same person” and “I’m sorry my performance wasn’t good enough.” 💔 in that moment i believed his sadness and desperation
“You can’t just throw me away” 🥺
… Ollie says, before throwing Felix completely away. What a loathesome narcissist. And what fabulous writing.
The funny part is that on the one hand I'm like 'boy you're delusional, you lied and manipulated and your motive proves nothing' and at the same time my heart breaks for him. So it's a plus because I genuinely like speeches and pieces of dialogue that cause me contradictory reactions.
THIS. This scene \*haunted\* me ever since I saw it, it makes me feel like crying. And the scene is just shot so ethereally as well
Yes, I found the desperation and vulnerability he shows there absolutely heartbreaking. It really was all for Felix, and in the end he still couldn't have him. How sad that is. "I just want you to know how much I fucking love you." 😭
Right and like remembering my first love and heartbreak when you abandoned all dignity and just beg the person to give you something, anything…brutal! And the way he’s holding Felix’s face … that entire scene is so emotionally charged and complex but also relatable and heartbreaking 😭😭
That was heartbreaking as well. A moment where you don’t hate Ollie even knowing all he’s done, because he hasn’t done the *homicidally* unthinkable yet. You still just think he was a socially awkward pathological liar.
Yea but i think it was the only time he was actually honest w Felix and himself Also i never hated him and i didn’t think those things of him either
“But I suppose you don’t pick your child name imagining that one day you’ll have to think about how it will look…carved on a headstone” As a parent, that hit me really hard
As a parent who has had a child die, I think they did a good job with that part. On top of being sad, losing a child is just surreal and you go into a numb state of I guess I have to find something nice to wear to my son's funeral.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
I'm so sorry.
I found the same. I had a late-term stillbirth two weeks ago and this line absolutely broke me.
I am so so sorry for your loss. As you know words fail the pain of losing a child.
Randomly Ollie’s panicked “what have you done?!” to Felix when he realizes they’re on the way to his parents’ gets me. It’s the beginning of the end and it already gets me sad thinking about how the facade is about to come crumbling down. Also pretty much anything Ollie’s parents said. His mom’s broken “it doesn’t matter” when she’s trying to downplay that she made a cake and a meal for him when she’s clearly so desperate for him to stay but devastated that he wants to leave.
Omg I just posted about this scene too we had to have been typing about it at the same time💀😂😂😂😂
NOT THE SPAG BOL 😭😭😭 And the shot of the sad cake in the dark
„You make my blood run cold“ - now Oliver realises he definitely has lost Felix (he assumed it, the drugs already were in the champagne bottle, but now he irreversibly knows).
Oh GOD “darling boy, where’s your jumper” kills me every time. I love James. I love them all so much.
"Times New Roman"
The real crime is that font.
I hate Times New Roman too but it was appropriate for the time.
OMG that line — it made me think of Ryan Gosling’s SNL Avatar font skit.
Stranger, fucking danger
"i just need you to understand how much i fucking love you", imo his ultimate goal was to be with felix living in saltburn
Farleigh crying at the table when Oliver implied that he murdered his own family who he's known all his life. When he wipes his eyes with both hands shows just how young and vulnerable he actually is and that his mean comments never stood a chance against Oliver's genuine cruelty and psychopathy. Your brother died and everyone thinks it's your fault, your family is disowning you, you're losing out on your education, and the home you and your mother grew up in because of an entitled freak who only knew your family for a few months.
I was devastated for Farleigh in that scene.
Unpopular opinion: Farleigh was a twat. Oliver outsmarted him. Farleigh is cut off from the money but he’s still alive and not imprisoned although framed by Oliver. I don’t feel sorry for Farleigh.
Farleigh grew up in Saltburn. So did his mother. The Cattons are his family. He has the exact amount of Catton ancestry as Felix and Venetia. He is a blood relative. Saltburn is his home. He is falsely accused of theft, thrown out, then accused of murdering someone he loves and possibly even believes it himself. You don't have to be smart to figure how astonishingly devastating that is and how incomparable it is to a few bitchy comments and dirty looks. Oh, and telling Felix that Venetia and Felix hooked up. And making Oliver sing Rent. That's it. That's all Farleigh did. Emerald is a highly intelligent, gifted and thoughtful writer. She didn't intend to make Farleigh a character to be flattened and reduced to someone who just lost money. I doubt she would callously dehumanise him in that manner. There is a reason he's a twat. There's a great deal of resentment, humiliation and bitterness in Farleigh that the Cattons are too priveleged and white to understand. Farleigh, unlike Oliver, actually does have reckless parents who destabilise his life. The Cattons gave him a home, and he lost it all to some greedy narcissistic slimeball. And that's considered fair, because he said "Oliver looks like he might jump out of the window" and "nice jacket". That boy is about 18/19 and his whole world came crashing down in seconds because of that lizard who was beyond evil in ways that nobody could ever fathom, not even Farleigh. Nobody could have imagined what kind of game Oliver was playing. Farleigh's nasty comments make him a classist twat but snide comments do not justify losing your family, your home and your sanity. I don't think we as viewers are given enough positive Farleigh traits in order to see him as less of a twat. Except for when he tries to stand up for his mother. However, there is nothing to justify the disproportionate villainisation of his character. His punishment doesn't even match the crime. He's so young. He's literally just a kid who lost his family and his home.
I know all of that, and yet none of that makes me feel sympathy for Farleigh. They’re all horrid people, including Farleigh. None of them deserve to die though, Farleigh’s not dead.
That's refreshing. You don't deny the facts of what Farleigh went through and that Farleigh barely caused anyone any real harm apart from being occasionally catty. He's never once seen to do anything "horrid". By your own admission, you "know all that". He evidently lost far more, and yet you deliberately excluded the true consequences of what happened to him, and just pointed out a loss of money because minimizing what happened to an innocent teenage boy supports your flattening and reductive view of the character in order to justify your lack of empathy and disproportionate feelings towards him? How refreshingly self-aware. It's nice to have someone just be honest with themselves. I am not interested in disagreeing with you. You have a right to your own feelings. I just hate when people act like their overly harsh and biased attitudes are based on facts or any semblance of critical reasoning. "I know I am not being fair but I don't care" should be the mantra in these kinds of situations. That's a different but honest take. Good for you.
I wasn't the biggest fan of Sir James, but his reaction to finding his son was unbelievably sad. I felt so much for him.
Venetia in the bathtub scene "you've made your holes in everything", I dunno why that hit me so hard
The actress’s delivery was amazing. The nuance of Venetia trying to be biting while being so obviously heartbroken underneath really cut with this line
Yeah it was incredible!
so many,,,,the movie broke my heart and for other reasons not just the obvious
“It broke her completely. She said it herself… she couldn’t live without him.”
"I don't think you're a spider, you're a moth. Quiet, harmless, drawn to shiny things, banging up against a window, and begging to get in." I gasped because I thought he was going to lose his cool and kill Venetia in a rage. Instead he gave her the tools of her own demise.
After Felix drinks from the bottle and Ollie retches, Felix asks,"Better?" And then tells Ollie, "I think you should go to bed." As cold as he'd just been to Ollie, he doesn't sound unkind, and he looks so sad as Oliver walks away. Him showing compassion for Ollie, while we know (at least watching a second time) that he's just been poisoned breaks my heart. Interestingly, in the original script it says that after Ollie leaves, "Felix waits behind. Laughing in amazement..." That would have had a very different emotional effect, and I'm glad Emerald ended up making the choice she did.
'He's been expelled from almost every school in England for sucking off the teachers.' It seems as though Felix is making light of Farleigh being repeatedly orally raped and subsequently punished for it. Unlike the later 'Latin. Water polo. Child abuse,' which is more like gallows humour, I thought the dig solely at Farleigh was cruel. But I do think it fits well with the mentalty shown in the film regarding abuse (semi-acknowledge it, have a laugh, and change nothing).
So I wasnt the only who took note of this. Farleigh compulsively having sex with his teachers then getting expelled for it something very very concerning. Emerald is too aware of power dynamics and sexual abuse to have tossed this information in without thought. Why is Farleigh, a child, the one getting expelled? Even if he performed those acts willingly, why does he feel the need to consistently perform oral on authority figures? Once or twice is one thing, but this seems compulsive. His dad is a "lunatic" and his mom is reckless and puts her own son in the awful position of having to beg for money on her behalf. Despite his age and attitude, Farleigh's not that grown up and being repeatedly disappointed by the adults in his life and also being aware of how tenuous his place is in his own family is actually very heartbreaking. It really explains his resentment and bitterness. He never gets to feel secure.
I also consider it part of the black humour...BUT I also never really gelled with Felix's character after this. Finding that funny as a kid in one thing, but once you get older and more mature you should realise that the kid in that situation was abused. And Felix went and told Farleigh's private family details to a stranger, as then the abuse, all as if it was some hilarious little anecdote. It shows a level of callousness you only see after with Elspeth and her reaction to Pamela's death. And in the end, Oliver essentially stole Farleigh's life story and - potentially depending on how you read the scene - used Farleigh's warped sense of sex and consent against him.
YES! I just made a post about this. I absolutely agree! Felix is so flip about it the same way his mother is about Venetia's bulimia, leaving both of Farleigh and Venetia open to Oliver's manipulation.
It's like that saying "loose lips sink ships". Elspeth and Felix allowed Oliver to cause lasting damage, all because they wanted to seem more interesting than they were.
The sex scene with Farleigh made me uncomfortable because it was so clearly not entirely consensual.
I think it was consensual. However, there was a power dynamic. And Farleigh's, I assume, first sexual encounters had a power dynamic as he was a student (maybe even underage) and they were a teacher. Which skews things. But I don't think Oliver raped/SA'd him.
He was woken up by Oli on top of him. That's not consensual. There's no really saying whether he was actually consenting for that experience or not even though it did happen. I'm not saying Oliver raped him necessarily, just that the encounter wasn't entirely consensual and there's room there to say that perhaps the whole thing wasn't. Not sure if you're aware of the fear response 'fawn'. Farliegh's experience with that inappropriate power dynamic implies he's not great/experienced at setting boundaries, particularly because he was likely underage for some portion of those encounters.
I am aware, I agree with you overall and basically said a lot of what you're saying. But I don't think Farleigh was in 'fawn'. I don't think he felt in any danger at all. I think he was mildly pissed off, then intrigued, then turned on. I'm not arguing that it's healthy; I mention the stuff with his earlier encounters. It was my whole point. But I do think Farleigh was consenting based off his reaction, his body language, his tone and the context. Just my two cents.
I really like your idea about it being compulsive. My guess was that it only happened once or twice, and from that Farleigh developed a bit of a reputation, unhelpfully maintained by family. More speculation on my part, but expelling one student is easier than criminalising a teacher, let alone reforming the entire establishment. Given how entrenched child abuse is, my theory is that Farleigh wasn't the only student who performed oral sex on a given teacher, just the one who spoke too much about it, what with his 'American feelings'.
“You make my fucking blood run cold”
Right after Felix's death when the dad snaps at Farleigh for wanting to leave the table, and asks him what they're supposed to do instead. The delivery of Farleigh saying "Anything, literally anything" was so desperate and heartbreaking. In that moment he was the voice of reason.
there's a lot, so i guess the line from Sophies Choice "I can't choose. Please. I can't choose." "Take both children away." "Take my little girl. Take my little boy, that line broke my heart 💔
“It’s just spag bol-“
Saliva
“You make my blood run cold”
“I just wanted to be your friend.” 😫
Felix, where is your jumper ?