Absolute Slay Take - Blog Posts

Anyone else noticed the way Felix is always baring his neck?? Like even the first time he meets Oliver he's doing this:

Like literally just tossing his head back and exposing his throat. We get this shot of Felix so many times that it's almost a motif lol he does it again here:

And of course he does it in the tub:

And again, for the very last time, in the maze :

Any time I see an image repeating like this over and over again I start wondering how it is significant. If we're reading Saltburn as an non-supernatural vampire story, which imo it absolutely is, we can see Felix's repeated vulnerability. He's exposing his life force to Oliver. We see the pulse in his neck, thinly veiled and beating under his skin. We see his fragility and his exposure and Oliver sees it too. Oliver, functioning as a 'vampire' of sorts, just wants to take. And take. And take from Felix. His obsession with consuming Felix in turn functionally consumes him. He never kisses Felix, he never gets that "bite" Felix is opening himself up to in these moments and I don't think any amount of Felix would be enough for Oliver. Further, i think Oliver actually recognizes his own insatiability in those final moments in the maze and decides that he is going to take Felix in the only way he knows will be complete and absolute. The utter finality of death appeals to Oliver in that moment because he wants everything to *last* and if he can end Felix's life, he knows at least he can do something to Felix that will be eternal.

Which leads us to see Felix hanging his head. He has no life force left to bare to Oliver anymore. He slumps his shoulders and crouches in on himself in these final moments. Oliver has finally drained him.