★★

Emerald Fennel’s sophomore feature is a more self-conscious indulgence than her first. The sense that we are trading in the early days of a future auteur remains but, second time around, the restraint of experience is missing. While Fennel’s penchant for a venomous turn of phrase is undiminished – Saltburn drips with the acid of her pen – the film hasn’t Promising Young Woman’s precision and focussed bite. It sprawls in languorous pacing, dives headfirst into pitfalls of its own making, and appears altogether too pleased with its, admittedly resplendent, cinematography to truly engage beyond thematic artifice.