All the glaring Saltburn plot holes which are guaranteed to annoy you forever

Saltburn has now officially been out for months and we’re all still reeling from the bath and grave scenes. But, the more we all obsess over every finite detail of the film, the easier some viewers have started to spot some glaring plot holes amongst the action and problems with the film’s timeline.

So, in case you had a niggling feeling something wasn’t quite right in the Saltburn universe – aside from, you know, the secret affairs and murder – here are all of the moments viewers have noticed don’t quite make sense:

Felix driving six hours before Oliver clocks they’re on the way to his parent’s house

I have never felt visceral second-hand embarrassment like the moment Felix drives Oliver all the way to his alcoholic parents house so they can reconcile, only to discover his broken home is, in fact, in idyllic family environment with no evidence whatsoever of struggle or strife.

But, as many viewers have pointed out, this journey was way too long for Oliver to not have noticed something was up before he was minutes away from his parent’s house: “In saltburn Jacob elordi drives barry keoghan from Cornwall to Liverpool and it takes until they turn into his road for Barry to realise they are going to his parents house,’ pointed out one person on Twitter. “What was he thinking for the other six hours?” 

Elspeth’s claim she was friends with Blur, Oasis and Pulp when she was a young model

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While chatting to Oliver about her youth, Felix’s mum Elspeth claims she used to “hang out with them all” when she was a model, referring to ’90s Britpop bands Blur, Oasis and Pulp.

“Oh, but then, of course, Common People came out and everybody thought it was written about me, which was completely mortifying and ridiculous,” she added. “She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge – it couldn’t have been me. I’ve never wanted to know anything.”

But people have pointed out this timeline doesn’t make any sense because Saltburn is set in late 2006 and the summer of 2007, meaning Britpop would have been only 10 years earlier when Elspeth was already in her 30s with two young children. Huh.

The Cattons watching Superbad in the library at Saltburn when Oliver arrives

Another timeline discrepancy people have noticed with Saltburn is Felix’s family settling in to watch Jonah Hill in Superbad one afternoon. The film didn’t come out until 2007, which viewers have called an “absolute embarrassment” of a plot hole.

But when asked about the error by Letterboxd, director Emerald Fennell had an excuse: “This film takes place in the summer of 2007, which was also when Superbad came out in the movie theatres in Britain,” she said.

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. 

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• The juicy production secrets and behind the scenes facts you need to know about Saltburn

Featured image credit via Prime Video