Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn was certainly a memorable film for its boundary-pushing scenes that left audiences both intrigued and unsettled. Barry Keoghan’s naked dance scene was wild and unexpected, but it worked well with the main character's motives in the sneaky con artist flick. The infamous bathtub scene also caused quite a fuss online, and now, Keoghan’s co-star, Jacob Elordi, has shared his thoughts on the "prudish" reactions.
In Saltburn’s viral bathtub scene, Jacob Elordi’s character, Felix, masturbated in a tub while Barry Keoghan’s Oliver was secretly watching. When Felix leaves, Oliver goes into the tub and slurps up the bathwater Felix was just in. After that shocking scene caused a stir online, the Euphoria actor spoke about it on EW’s Awardist podcast and shared his opinion on what he thinks that reaction says about today’s audiences:
I actually think it shows me just how, I guess, prudish we are. When I watch that, I just think there's far more extreme things in cinema that I've seen, far more graphic.
Jacob Elordi continued to say how audiences seem to be more unfazed by on-screen violence than sexual content. It definitely raises a unique conversation on why seeing graphic violence is easier to take in compared to anything sexual.
While director Emerald Fennell called the bathtub scene “sexy,” I agree more with Barry Keoghan’s interpretation that drinking Felix's used bathwater is about his character’s obsession with wanting to consume Felix's lavish lifestyle. So I would say it’s more disturbing and symbolic compared to anything romantic or sexual, and it fits into the movie’s dark themes of class envy.
Going back to Elordi's thoughts on the matter, he went on about what he found “interesting” about the contrast between audiences' reactions to violent movies and the tension felt in psychologically twisted dramas:
There's more alarming things in the top 10 streamed remakes of crime documentaries on every streaming platform. I think that's much more alarming, the kind of horrible joy that we all get from watching children be mutilated. That's what was interesting to me. I was like, here's a piece of fiction with something just a little taboo, and that makes people's skin crawl. It's an interesting parallel.
While I can’t say for sure why audiences react with surprise to nude or sexually graphic scenes more than violent ones, it could be because you know what to expect with horror or action movies. You know going in that you’ll see the blood and gore the plot entails. But, with dark comedies like Saltburn, it's hard to tell what to expect. It could be that unpredictability is what keeps audiences on edge with a real curiosity about what lines can be drawn next. However, that's just my theory.
If Jacob Elordi is right about audiences being “prudish” about Saltburn’s infamous bathtub scene, that speaks volumes about how audiences tend to be more at ease with on-screen violence than anything explicitly intimate. But since these scenes go viral pretty quickly, their unexpectedness can spark conversation and force viewers to think about the film’s dark themes more. You can revisit the film and its taboo scene by streaming Saltburn with an Amazon Prime subscription.
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