Saltburn Ending Explained: What Really Happened To Felix

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for Saltburn.

Summary

• Ollie’s obsession with Felix and the Saltburn estate leads him to murder both Felix and Venetia in a premeditated plan to gain control and power.
• Ollie poisons Felix with a lethal amount of cocaine, framing his death as an accidental overdose or suicide.
• Ollie manipulates the situation to reinsert himself into Elspeth’s life after James’s death in order to become the heir of the Saltburn estate.

The shocking ending of Saltburn reveals the true intentions behind Oliver Quick’s obsession with Felix Catton and the luxurious Saltburn estate. Ollie (Barry Keoghan) is introduced as a lonely outcast at the prestigious Oxford University who becomes unlikely friends with the larger-than-life Felix (Jacob Elordi) and his socially elite friends. Transfixed by Felix’s carefree lifestyle and effortless ability to get everything he wants, Ollie devises a master plan of winning Felix over, which is fully revealed in the final moments of Emerald Fennell’s provocative dark thriller.

Saltburn is the sophomore directorial effort by Fennell, who rose to prominence as a director with her Oscar-winning 2020 film Promising Young Woman which stars Carey Mulligan. The film has apparent similarities to the plot of Anthony Minghella’s 1999 classic The Talented Mr. Ripley, in which Matt Damon’s con artist protagonist Tom Ripley becomes enamored with the magnificence of the wealthy, cultured, and adventurous Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) and Marge Sherwood (Gwenyth Paltrow). In the end, Saltburn becomes a twisted and unsettling premeditation of a parasite in human form.

What Happens In Saltburn’s Ending

Oliver’s Plan To Take The Saltburn Estate Is Revealed

Saltburn starts heading for its climactic finale after the sudden death of Felix, which at first glance appears to be from an accidental overdose or some other type of fatal error. James and Elspeth try to carry on with their regularly formal and proper lifestyles in spite of 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 Catton family essentially disowns Farleigh after Ollie reveals that he had been serving large amounts of cocaine at Ollie’s massive birthday party the night before.

Venetia is later found in a Saltburn bathtub filled with her own blood. James, distraught and perplexed 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, disturbed by his presence there and Elspeth’s growing attachment. The film, which took place during the mid-2000s, jumps to the present day where Ollie appears to have been living in luxury from the buyout money until he comes across James’ obituary in the newspaper.

Ollie “randomly” runs into Elspeth at a cafe, gets invited back to Saltburn, and manipulates her into making him heir to the estate. It is revealed that Ollie’s narration throughout has been to Elspeth, as she is in bed, extremely ill and being kept alive by various medical machines – and as he finishes his tale to her, he straddles her on the bed and rips out her breathing tube. Finally, Ollie dances naked through Saltburn, in a twisted mirror of his original tour through the rooms with Felix.

Ollie Poisoned Felix With A Lethal Amount Of Cocaine

He Drugged The Bottle That Felix Drank In The Maze

While Felix’s death in Saltburn appears to be some type of fatal accident or potentially even death by suicide, Ollie reveals that he murdered Felix in the closing minutes of the film. Ollie is seen pouring something into his bottle of wine or liquor before he sneaks up on Felix in the hedge maze the night of his death. After interrupting Felix’s tryst, they argue, and Ollie seems to be drinking out of the bottle, but then pushes it into Felix’s hands. Felix is seen drinking it, before Ollie leaves the maze.

Ollie undoubtedly poisoned Felix and likely used a lethal amount of Farleigh’s cocaine to do it. He essentially killed two birds with one stone in his sinister pursuit to take control of Saltburn, because using cocaine means that he is able to pin the blame for Felix’s death on Farleigh, causing him to be banished from the estate (and the family). This wasn’t the first time that Oliver attempted to get rid of Farleigh, as it is also revealed that his attempt to sell stolen Palissy plates was also a setup, perpetrated by Oliver after their sexual encounter.

Ollie Set Venetia Up For Suicide (Although He Isn’t Seen Killing Her Directly)

He Gave Her Razor Blades In The Bath

Ollie wasted little time in taking out the last living Catton child and heir to the Saltburn throne by framing Venetia’s death as a suicide. In her final scene, Ollie walks in on Venetia as she is taking a bath, after drinking all day. Echoing his final conversation with Felix, Venetia questions why he is still there, calling him a moth and a freak. It’s a tense conversation, and it is shown in the final scenes that after this, Oliver puts razor blades on the edge of the bath, knowing that she has struggled with mental health, that she is drunk, and that she is deep in grief.

Her actual death is not shown on-screen, so whether Oliver simply left the blades, knowing that he has pushed her into using them, or actually stayed to use them himself is left intentionally ambiguous. However, he seems to prefer indirect means of murder and destruction, so it’s implied that Venetia did take her own life, but that he manipulated the situation to lead to that end. Venetia, like Felix, had exposed Ollie as the parasitical force that he was, which led Ollie to take her out of the picture in order to preserve his shot at staying at Saltburn in the long run.

Ollie’s Bizarre Graveyard Scene Explained

His Obsession And Desire To Get Closer Is Revealed

The scene that fully encapsulates the disturbing strangeness of Ollie is his unforgettable display above Felix’s grave. Following Felix’s death, Ollie is left alone by the family, and falls to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably on the dirt where Felix’s body is buried. What starts as a very expected display of grief shifts as he goes from his knees to lying on the grave, starting to strip off his clothes and eventually lying naked on top of it, thrusting into the dirt in a bizarre display of his deepest and most conflicting feelings toward Felix.

This is one of the most telling scenes – especially after the audience is made aware that Ollie killed Felix. The intensity of the grief and the love (or obsession) that he feels for Felix is shown to be very real, suggesting that his original plan was never to take Saltburn, but to form a bond with Felix. This starts to shift over his time at the estate, and his rage and hatred of Felix grows as he is marked as an outsider and as Felix cuts him out, but his original feelings remain.

Ollie Waited Years For James’ Death To Take Advantage Of Elspeth

He Manipulates & Eventually Kills Her By The Ending Of Saltburn

Ollie left Saltburn with a check in his pocket and honored James’ wishes to never return, that is, until he was dead. The time jump in the final scenes shows that Ollie has spent many years living off the money that he got for leaving, and presumably fulfilled his wish to never return home. However, his discovery of James’ obituary sets him back in motion, and he arranges a ‘chance’ encounter with Elspeth. Like his original connection with Felix, this is shown to have been carefully set up to appear natural and random, while being entirely premeditated.

He is able to work his way back into her life easily – unsurprisingly, as she is shown to be susceptible to his manipulations during his initial visit to Saltburn. However, their final scene is one of the most disturbing, as she is shown to be seriously ill, and he has been telling her his story – including the revelation that he has murdered her children. He finishes by killing Elspeth much more directly, ripping out her breathing tube. Her illness is not fully explained, though — leaving the question of whether it is natural, or whether he has a hand in this, too.

Saltburn’s Ending Leaves Many Questions Unanswered

Farleigh’s Fate And James’ Death Are Unexplained

The twist ending of Saltburn reveals that Oliver’s original friendship with Felix was all contrived, and that Oliver had initially stalked Felix. It also reveals how he killed the rest of the family to take Saltburn and everything they had – but it leaves two character endings vague: James’ and Farleigh’s. James is, of course, dead, but the manner of his death is unclear.

Elspeth says that she is “surprised he waited so long”, which could be a hint that he died by suicide – if this is the case, it would make Oliver responsible, on some level, for the deaths of the entire family. However, it’s also possible that it was a natural death. Oliver dealt with Farleigh, Felix, and Venetia in quick succession, so if his plan included James’ death, he would likely not have waited nearly twenty years to kill him.

Farleigh is a bigger mystery. Oliver’s plan to exile him from the family clearly succeeds, as he is not involved in Elspeth’s life or named as heir. However, there is no indication that Farleigh is dead. That said, being forgotten may be a more fitting fate. Farleigh and Oliver have a unique relationship in the movie, as Farleigh is both part of the family and outside of it, and continually reinforces the idea that Oliver is not truly part of this world, but that Farleigh always will be.

If he were killed, Oliver would be according him a place in the family, in his own sick way. But by taking over Saltburn and leaving Farleigh to his future in America, he is truly exiling Farleigh, and claiming the family place as his own.

The Real Meaning of Saltburn’s Ending

A Twisted Victory (That Isn’t A True Happy Ending, Even For Oliver)

The ending of Saltburn leaves Ollie to claim ownership of the Saltburn estate, which has become his deepest desire – although this is a desire that may have been nurtured throughout the film, and through his interactions with Farleigh and Pamela. Although Ollie claims repeatedly that he had loved Felix, his obsessive greed and lust for power are apparently much stronger than any genuine feelings he had developed for him or any member of the Catton family.

Saltburn’s ending proves that Ollie ended the Catton family piece by piece so that he could dance in the nude around their multimillion-dollar mansion. However, it goes deeper than simply a desire for wealth and power – to a desire for belonging. There’s no doubt by the end of Saltburn that Ollie is a sociopath, a murderer, and an incredibly deceitful individual. He lies constantly to every member of the family, as well as about his own family and situation.

However, he did not seem to want to murder the family until the discovery of his lies risked his place in it. His early desires were to be with Felix, and to become part of the Catton family. However, from the moment he arrives, it is clear he does not truly belong. From the egg scene at breakfast, to karaoke, to the news of Pamela’s death, his stay is a constant reminder that he will only ever be a visitor, and never truly belong.

This desire to belong is part of the film from the opening scenes, when he struggles to fit in at Oxford, and eventually, he triumphs as the owner of Saltburn, there can be no doubt that he belongs there. His final, naked, dance through the halls celebrates this — however, the deep irony of it is that the only way he was able to reach this place of belonging is by getting rid of everyone else. He will only ever ‘belong’ if he is alone at Saltburn – and so, when there is no family left to belong to.

Why The Saltburn Ending Went Viral

The Movie Was Primed To Gain Notoriety As Soon As It Was Available To Stream

Saltburn was a textbook example of a movie that gained popularity (and, indeed, notoriety) thanks to word-of-mouth and going viral on social media. There are several key reasons why, too. The movie sparked an intense wider debate, and while it did have a theatrical run, it wasn’t until Saltburn hit streaming in December 2023 that it became so widely known and discussed.

The main reason that it took off is, of course, the incredibly shocking and disturbing nature of many of Saltburn’s scenes — scenes which couldn’t be illegally filmed in theaters, but could be screen-grabbed and shared on platforms like TikTok and YouTube once Saltburn was available to stream. This was especially true of the final scene when Ollie dances naked to “Murder on the Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, or Ollie drinking Felix’s bathwater. Such moments would beggar belief when described, but made for prime snippets that could be easily shared on social media platforms for shock reaction.

Whatever side of that particular fence viewers sit on, however, this divisive nature only helped to ensure that

Saltburn

dominated the cultural zeitgeist for months.

Then there was the wider debate that Saltburn sparked. The movie had plenty of core themes about elitism and social class structure. However, the way it went about it was incredibly divisive. Some felt that Saltburn was a stroke of genius, a genuinely successful attempt to create a conversation using shock-factor to express its key points. Others, however, felt that it was too heavy-handed, and that whatever message Saltburn was trying to convey was lost amidst Ollie’s disturbing antics.

Whatever side of that particular fence viewers sit on, however, this divisive nature only helped to ensure that Saltburn dominated the cultural zeitgeist for months, and that it will continue to be discussed and dissected for years to come.