All the completely unforgivable historical inaccuracies in Saltburn

Sorry, am I watching Saltburn or Back to the Future?

10 months ago

With the release of 2006 set Saltburn came a spike in the interest for Y2K fashion, makeup and trends, and whilst the film strived to be as accurate to the 2000s as possible and succeeded at it in many ways, the film isn’t without its historical inaccuracies. Whilst they’re not as bad as a Starbucks cup being left on the table at a banquet in Games of Thrones, a water bottle on the mantel of a promo photo for Downton Abbey or crew members in shot in a The Last of Us episode, they are obvious enough that you do wonder how no one noticed. I mean, you would have thought that literally anyone would spot that the Catton family watch a movie that hasn’t even been released yet. So, here are the completely unforgivable historical inaccuracies in Emerald Fennel’s Saltburn:

Elspeth wears a dress from a 2018 runway collection

via Amazon Prime

On two occasions throughout the movie, the matriarch of the Catton family Elspeth wears dresses from the Valentino Fall 2018 Couture collection. The most recognisable of these dresses being the gold, detailed number she wore to Oliver’s birthday party and whilst it is absolutely stunning and subtly whispers her wealth, it wasn’t made until a whopping 12 years after the film is set.

Some of the songs on the soundtrack were released after 2006

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The soundtrack for Saltburn is absolutely iconic and the films closing scene where Oliver dances naked to Murder on the Dance Floor has launched Sophie Ellis-Bextor back into the limelight. Whilst the vast majority of the songs on the Saltburn soundtrack are of the period and have introduced the younger generation to some Y2K bangers, there are two that are historical inaccuracies – Low by Flo Rida and Time to Pretend by MGMT, both of which were released in 2007. However, the inclusion of these songs in the movie were written into the actual screenplay and some have argued they are used to portray Oliver as an unreliable narrator.

The characters watch a movie that hasn’t even been released yet

via Amazon Prime

When Oliver arrives at Saltburn and goes to meet the family for the first time, he finds them spread out in the library half-watching Superbad on the TV. However, Superbad, the iconic film starring McLovin, wasn’t released until 2007, a year after Saltburn is set.

A shirt that Farleigh wears is still on sale

via Amazon Prime

If you loved the embroidered shirt that Farleigh wears at breakfast following the infamous vampire scene then you’re in luck as you can actuall still buy it however it will set you back a cool £395. It’s from the brand END. and is delightfully called the Morning Glory shirt, very fitting for the scene it’s worn in. Whilst still on sale, it is currently sold out.

Saltburn, the new film by Emerald Fennell, is streaming on Amazon Prime now. For all the best film , music, reality TV and entertainment news, like Pop Culture Shrine on Facebook.