Secrets Revealed: What Really Happened to Felix in Saltburn's Finale?

Source: Looper

Saltburn, a 2023 black comedy psychological thriller film written and directed by Oscar-winner Emerald Fennell, explores the cross-class friendship between Oliver (Barry Keoghan) and Felix (Jacob Elordi) that ultimately leads to intense relationships, power dynamics, and surprising revelations, most occurring in the Saltburn mansion belonging to Felix’s extremely wealthy family. 

The movie shows outsider Oliver invited by the very popular Felix to spend the summer in his family's massive country house where he meets the likes of Oliver's sister Venetia (Alison Oliver) and his mother Elsbeth (Rosamund Pike). However, Felix and the rest of the Catton family have no idea what Oliver has in mind for them, leading to shocking twists in all the debauchery.

It will leave you with questions about what happened to Felix, Venetia, and the rest of the Catton family, as well as what Oliver's dark plan was. So that's where we come to answer any lingering Saltburn questions you might have.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead.

What Happens In Saltburn's Ending

Saltburn moves forward for its climactic ending after the sudden death of Felix, which at first glance seems to be from an accidental overdose or some kind of fatal error. 

Felix's eccentric parents James and Elspeth try to carry on with their regular formal and proper lifestyles despite their son’s death as Farleigh (Archie Madekwe) and Venetia (Alison Oliver) can barely hold their composure at the table. Felix’s body is taken away and the Cattan family disowns Farleigh as Ollie exposes that he has been serving large amounts of cocaine at Olle’s massive birthday party the night before. 

Oliver's sister Venetia is later found in a Saltburn bathtub filled with her own blood. James distressed by the back-to-back deaths of his two children and the ostracization of his symbolic third child Farleigh, pays Ollie off to leave Saltburn once and for all. 

Now Ollie appears to have been living in his luxury from the buyout money until he comes across James’ obituary in the newspaper nearly two decades later. The movie, which took place during the mid-2000s, jumps to the present day when Ollie “randomly” runs into Elspeth at a cafe, gets invited back to Saltburn, and swiftly prompts her death so he will become the heir of the Saltburn estate.

Ollie Poisoned Felix 

Source: Business Insider

While Felix’s death in Saltburn seems to be some type of fatal accident or potentially even death by suicide, Oliver reveals his plan to murder Felix all along in the closing minutes of the film. Ollie is seen mixing something into his bottle of wine or liquor before he sneaks up on Felix in the hedge maze the night of his death. 

Then there’s a scene where Felix tells Ollie that he makes his blood run cold, which ends up being exactly what Ollie does with Felix. Ollie poisoned Felix by likely using a lethal amount of Farliegh's cocaine to do it. He essentially killed two birds with one stone in his sinister pursuit to take control of Saltburn, as his long-term plan was always to steal the Catton family’s fortune. 

Ollie Killed Venetia & Framed It As A Suicide

Source: Screen Rant

As the story moves forward to its end, Ollie goes to murder the last living Catton child and heir to the Salftburn throne by framing Venetia’s death as a suicide. He strangely walks in on Venetia as she is taking a bath, knowing she is drunk, Ollie finds it as a perfect chance to take advantage of the situation and kills Venetia with razor blades. 

Venetia, like her brother Felix, has revealed Ollie as the parasitic that he was, which led Ollie to take her out of the picture to preserve his shot at staying at Saltburn in the long run. Surprisingly, a police investigation related to the deaths of Felix and Venetia never followed Ollie after James asked him to leave Saltburn. 

Ollie's Bizzare Graveyard Scene

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The scene that is actually difficult to digest is Ollie’s unforgettable display above Felix’s grave. Following Felix’s death, Ollie falls to his knees and sobs wildly on the dirt where Felix’s body is buried. He weirdly goes from hugging the ground to caressing it and ultimately gets fully naked and sexual in a bizarre scene of his deepest and most conflicting feelings toward Felix. 

Ollie is clearly viewed as a heathen at Saltburn and is obsessed with having the power, and wealth that comes with the territory. This develops the extreme love/hate relationship that Ollie creates for Felix, as portrayed quite clearly in the explicit Saltburn graveyard scene.

Ollie Took Advantage Of Elspeth

Source: Screen Rant

After his kids back to back-to-back deaths, James gives a check to Ollie and tells him to leave and never to return to Saltburn, that is until he is dead. Ollie wasn’t sad as he was likely very happy to have made it out of Saltburn unscathed and with a large sum of money, which he used to live a luxurious lifestyle in England for several years. 

But, when he discovered that James Catton had died naturally, he took it as the best and final shot at becoming the heir to Saltburn. Since Ollie had stalked and manipulated Felix to make him think that they had just naturally become friends, he used a similar premeditated strategy to “randomly “ run into Elspeth and reinvolve himself into her life, which he eventually ended. 

Saltburn's Ending

Source: Vulture

In the ending scene of Saltburn, it appears Ollie is the last person standing to claim ownership of the Saltburn estate, which is clearly the only thing he has wanted throughout the entire movie. While Ollie says repeatedly that he loves Felix, his obsession and lust for Catton's fortune are apparently much stronger than any real feelings he has for him or any other member of the Catton family.

The ending proves that Ollie is nothing but a complete monster who ended the entire Catton family piece by piece so that he could basically dance in the nude around their multimillion-dollar mansion.

By the end of the Saltburn, there’s no doubt that Ollie is a sociopath, a murderer, and an incredibly deceitful individual who is motivated only by power and wealth. The first sign of his deceitful behavior is revealed when Felix drives him to his parent's house, which is nothing like the horrible people Ollie had claimed them to be. 

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Saltburn director, Emerald Fennell broke down the scene saying,  "If we all did our job correctly, you are on Oliver's side. You don't care what he does, you want him to do it. You are both completely repulsed and sort of on his side." "It's that kind of dance with the devil. It's like, 'Fuck. Okay, let's go.' And so at the end, it needed to have a triumph, a post-coital win, a desecration," Fennell added.

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