Movies Like
Movies Like Saltburn: Class Obsession With a Nasty Turn
By Jordan A. · · Updated · 5 min read
Saltburn is Emerald Fennell's 2023 film about an Oxford student who attaches himself to a rich classmate and ends up at the family estate for the summer, with Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant. The reason it worked on people is not the scenes everyone quotes. It is the older, colder idea underneath: that wealth makes a house that invites you in, patronises you, and never once considers that you might be dangerous.
So this list is not "beautiful films where someone behaves badly". Every pick has an outsider, a closed world made of money, and a turn where the power moves. Each entry says what it shares with Saltburn, where it goes somewhere different, and who should skip it.
The direct ancestors
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) is the source code, and Fennell has never pretended otherwise. Anthony Minghella's film sends Matt Damon to Italy to retrieve Jude Law's rich, careless son and the errand becomes an audition for a life. It is more romantic than Saltburn and much sadder, because Ripley wants to be loved rather than to win. If you take one film from this page, take this one.
The Servant (1963) is Joseph Losey's, written by Harold Pinter, and it is the coldest version of the story. A manservant is hired by a young London aristocrat and the two men slowly reverse positions inside a single house. Black and white, largely two rooms, and the class inversion is done entirely through manners. Skip it if you need momentum. It moves like a chess game.
Teorema (1968) is Pier Paolo Pasolini's, in which a stranger arrives at a wealthy Milanese family's home, sleeps with each member, then leaves, and every one of them falls apart. It is where the modern version of this plot comes from. Difficult, allegorical and not remotely interested in entertaining you, which is either the appeal or a warning.
The modern class thrillers
Parasite (2019) is Bong Joon Ho's and it is the best film on this list. One poor family talks its way into every job in a rich family's house, and the turn in the middle of the film is the best structural trick of the last decade. Where Saltburn is about one person's appetite, Parasite is about a system, which is why it stings for longer.
Burning (2018) is Lee Chang-dong's, adapted from a Murakami story, with Steven Yeun as a wealthy man whose hobby is unnerving. It shares Saltburn's slow suspicion and refuses to confirm it. It is two and a half hours and the pacing is deliberate. Choose it if ambiguity is a pleasure rather than a frustration.
The Menu (2022) is the crowd-pleasing version. Ralph Fiennes as a chef hosting the very rich on a private island, Anya Taylor-Joy as the guest who does not belong. Faster, funnier and much less interested in nuance than Saltburn, and the ending is unusually satisfying for a satire about class.
Triangle of Sadness (2022) is Ruben Ostlund's, a luxury cruise that goes very wrong, and the third act rearranges the hierarchy completely. It is the broadest thing here, closer to farce, and the middle section is genuinely hard to watch. Take it if you want the satire loud.
The nasty ones
Promising Young Woman (2020) is Fennell's own first film, with Carey Mulligan, and watching it next to Saltburn tells you exactly what she is interested in: the moment a comfortable person's decency turns out to be conditional. It is structured as a revenge film and does not deliver the catharsis you expect.
Ready or Not (2019) is a bride hunted through a mansion by her new husband's dynastic family on her wedding night. Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, it is a horror comedy and it is not subtle about the metaphor. Ninety-five minutes and enormously fun, which is why it belongs after two hours of Pasolini.
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) is Halina Reijn's, a party game at a rich kid's house during a storm that turns into accusations and then bodies. It is the youngest film here and it understands the specific social currency of that group better than any of the others.
Gosford Park (2001) is Robert Altman's, a shooting party at an English country house in 1932 with a murder in it and an enormous cast, and it is the quietest film on this page. Altman shoots upstairs and downstairs as two separate societies who cannot see each other properly, and the mystery is almost beside the point. Take it if what you liked about Saltburn was the house itself and the choreography of who is allowed in which room.
One thing to know before you queue these
The common failure mode of this genre is mistaking a beautiful house for a point of view. Several films you will see recommended alongside Saltburn are just wealth photographed well. The ones above all have an actual argument about who is allowed inside and what it costs them, which is the reason they hold up on rewatch.
Where each of these streams changes; the title page on BingeNext shows current US options.
Where to start
If you want the film Saltburn is in conversation with, watch The Talented Mr. Ripley tonight. If you want the best film of the set, watch Parasite. If you want the fun one after a long week, Ready or Not runs ninety-five minutes and does not ask anything of you.
If you would rather hand over the shortlist, BingeNext's movie recommendations take Saltburn plus another film you love and return picks with a reason and where each one streams. A run takes about a minute.
Topics covered: thriller, psychological, dark, provocative, stylish, contemporary
About the author
Jordan A., Founder, BingeNext
Jordan A. is the founder of BingeNext and is responsible for every guide published on this site. He built the recommendation engine after one too many nights lost to the streaming menu. Dates, season counts and where-to-watch details in these guides are checked against official sources before publishing, and corrections are welcome at Jordan@Bingenext.com.