Sometimes its when the credits start rolling or when you’re driving home from the cinema or two weeks after you first watched it while you’re stood at the water cooler.
But most cryptic movie moments always eventually sink in for people – although Saltburn might be the one anomaly.
The Emerald Fennell flick is one of the most talked about films of last year and the chatter still doesn’t seem to be dying down in 2024 either, as viewers still just can’t believe what they saw on screen.
Described as a ‘beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire’, as most of us know by now, Saltburn centres on the story of Oxford University student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) and his super-rich classmate Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi).
The conniving main character, who touts himself as hard-up and humble, manages to con his way into getting his new pal to invite him to his flash family’s estate, Saltburn, for the summer.
There’s tons of scenes that leave you gasping in shock or hiding behind a cushion – I mean, the bit where Oliver sups up some of Felix’s semen in the bath tub is enough to make some people switch the whole thing off.
On top of the protagonist stripping naked and dancing through the stately home to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ and THAT grave scene, it’s left some viewers feeling a bit weird about the whole thing.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Sometimes you’re watching something and are left wondering, who the hell came up with this stuff? Did producers seriously give this part the green light?
And then the credits start to roll after you’ve sat through the entirety of the two hour and seven minute movie and you see Margot Robbie listed as one of the filmmakers on Saltburn, and you just don’t know how to feel.
People can’t believe that the Barbie star had a hand in the movie and have been sharing their shock on social media.
One said: “I’M JUST NOW REALIZING MARGOT ROBBIE PRODUCED SALTBURN. WHAT.”
Another wrote: “Honestly love that Margot Robbie produced Saltburn. How iconic is that.”
A third wrote: “Everything actually makes sense when you realise Margot Robbie was a producer in Saltburn.”
A fourth added: “Just found out Margot Robbie was a producer on Saltburn and idk what to do with this info.”
Robbie worked alongside her husband Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara for the hit film, which was produced by their company LuckyChap Entertainment.
MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images
Unlike a lot of viewers, the Wolf of Wall Street star said she wasn’t that taken aback by the contents of Fennell’s script or the controversial scenes, thanks to the director’s writing skills.
Discussing Keoghan f**king the grave of Elordi’s character, Robbie told Variety: “It didn’t feel that shocking in the script, because Emerald immerses you into a world so quickly.
“She’s so masterful at tone and plot; she gets you into it so quickly – you’re just immediately like, ‘I’m in this world.’
“So by the time you get to something like the bathtub scene, she’s primed you for it. She’s got you. You’re, like, picking at a scab; you’re like, ‘I can’t help myself.’ Or like popping a pimple: ‘I know I shouldn’t squeeze but I’m gonna.’”
She also said Fennell’s script was ‘intentionally disgusting and satisfying’.
Robbie added: “She gets in your brain and she kind of taps into the most depraved parts of it, so that you’re complicit in the story. That’s the water cooler moment – the thing that people are talking about two weeks afterwards.”
