Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) has all the money in the world, an estate house with endless rooms to explore, and a boy who is obsessed with him. (Let’s not forget the Livestrong bracelet that I cannot stop thinking about.) Felix is also one of the aspects of Saltburn that has fans questioning their “eat the rich” mindset.
The reality is that Emerald Fennell’s film really does still highlight how horrible the waspy and wealthy Catton family is. Meanwhile, Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), evil as he is, isn’t technically working-class; he’s just not nearly as rich as the Cattons. He’s well off, just not Saltburn well off. None of this is important in understanding who Felix is and what happened to him, though.
Felix is just a boy studying at Oxford when he meets Oliver. We see how Felix just kind of wants to do whatever he feels like and how he controls those around him. When Oliver sleeps with schoolmate Venetia (Alison Oliver), Felix and Oliver’s relationship changes. Everything is on Felix’s terms, which changes how Oliver warps relationships around him so he can manipulate the situations as he needs. All leading to the reveal that Oliver is not who he says he is.
Throughout their friendship, Oliver appeals to Felix’s hero complex. He tells Felix that he has a dead drug addict for a father and that his mother is an alcoholic and that they no longer speak. The reality is that Oliver’s family is middle-class and very loving, and they just want their son to call more.
Just when Felix is about to expose Oliver for lying to him and his family, Felix suspiciously dies at Oliver’s birthday party due to an accidental drug overdose. So what really happened to Felix in Saltburn?
During the Midsummer Night’s Dream party that the Cattons are throwing for Oliver, Felix is very clearly upset and ready to write Oliver off. He didn’t tell anyone the truth, but he isn’t kind to Oliver throughout the night. When the two enter the estate’s hedge maze, they have a conversation and Oliver ends up poisoning Felix. Their fight is all about how Oliver was playing a part for Felix, who says to Oliver, “You make my blood run cold.”
Deciding that if he can’t have Felix, no one can, Oliver hands him a bottle of champagne that he has spiked with poison and leaves Felix alone. Felix drinks the bottle in the maze. The next morning, Felix’s body is found and his family assumes that he is dead because of drugs and don’t bother looking any further. Oliver gets away with it because of Felix’s past antics.
The reality is that Felix’s death is the first time we see just how far Oliver is willing to go, and it really sets in motion what Oliver is willing to do to the Catton family for his own benefit.
(featured image: MGM)
