"Have you seen Saltburn?" has become a recurring question since the Emerald Fennell-directed film arrived on Prime Video on December 21. To those who have not seen it, it is clarified: "Jacob Elordi's." The 26-year-old Australian actor, known for his role as Nate Jacobs in the series Euphoria, or more recently for playing Elvis Presley himself in Sofia Coppola's film Priscilla, has finished conquering audiences with this black comedy in which he plays the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton. Above all, thanks to one scene in particular, which is already being talked about as "the bathtub scene" and which does not stop generating comments on social networks. And not only that, since the Etsy platform has also found a way to monetize the euphoria for Jacob Elordi by marketing his supposed smell through a scented candle inspired by that specific moment in the film.
The film tells the story of Oliver Quick – played by Barry Keoghan – a misfit Oxford student who no longer feels out of place among his wealthy classmates when Felix (Elordi) begins to introduce him to his world and even invites him to spend the summer at his quirky family estate. Oliver's obsession with Felix has one of its climactic moments in this now famous scene in which his character slurps the remains of the dirty bathwater in which his partner has bathed ― and masturbated ― minutes before. Now Etsy promises that anyone can surround themselves with that scent with this candle that it has dubbed Jacob Elordi's The Bathwater and which it unabashedly describes as reminiscent of that moment.
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Jacob Elordi's bath water from 'SALTBURN' is now a candle scent.
(https://t.co/PHO1clXwMZ) pic.twitter.com/N76R7EkbDh
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) January 2, 2024
"There's nothing quite like the smell of a quality candle, especially when that smell is inspired by Jacob Elordi and how we imagine His Highness smells. Is the sweet smell of vanilla? A warm spicy scent? A gentle sea breeze?" the platform asks. Beyond the eye-catching name, there's little genuine about the fragrance, as the website gives you the option to choose from up to three different scents to emulate, supposedly, the actor's perfume: vanilla, comforting spices and sea breeze. "Jacob Elordi, or Felix Catton, is the epitome of refined elegance and captivating charm. Our Jacob Elordi bath water candle captures the essence of this charismatic figure and offers a sensory experience like no other. Let the flickering flame and captivating scent transport you to the world of Emerald Fennell's Saltburn, where fantasy and reality intertwine," the product is advertised.
Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi attend the 2023 GQ Men of the Year party at Bar Marmont, on November 16, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.Emma McIntyre (Getty Images for GQ)
Not only the film, the candle itself has starred in thousands of reactions on X and TikTok. Actor Barry Keoghan (Dublin, 31), Elordi's partner in the film and the real protagonist of the scene ― and nominated for a Golden Globe for this role ― has joked about it. "I already have 10 of them," he told a reporter from Variety on Wednesday, Jan. 3, at the opening of the Louis Vuitton pop-up in West Hollywood. "They're all burning in my house right now," he added wryly. Elordi didn't say anything about sailing, but he did say about the bathtub moment, of which he is particularly proud. "I was very emotional when I read that scene. Because... you don't really see things like that in mainstream movies," he acknowledged in an interview with Stream Wars on Dec. 30: "So it's great that [director Emerald Fennell] was allowed to push those boundaries and expose people in that way."
In November 2023, Fennell herself described Saltburn as a "lick the rich, suck the rich, and then bite the rich and swallow them" kind of movie. To smell Jacob Elordi's The Water in the Bathtub you have to pay a minimum of 30 euros ― there are different versions from different sellers ― but the price of the candle increases with shipping costs from the United States of more than 20 euros that can make it almost double. It's handmade — the platform directly connects artisans with their potential customers — and, according to Etsy, is "vegan, all-natural, and non-toxic." "Hot and humid. Burn slowly," warns a suggestive message under the label of another of the candles inspired by the actor.
Actor Jacob Elordi in a scene from the movie 'Saltburn'. MRC Film (ZUMAPRESS.com / Cordon Press)
Before this great idea by Etsy to take advantage of the success of an actor who has nothing to do with the product itself, Gwyneth Paltrow was already the queen of scented candles with scents that are impossible to go unnoticed. In 2020, the actress made headlines around the world when she launched through her lifestyle and wellness website, Goop, a series of aromatic candles called This Smells Like My Vagina for a cost of $75, which was later followed by the version This Smells Like My Orgasm. She herself defended the project as something that "started as a joke" and has become a defense of how "incredible" it is to "be a woman." "It's a bit like a subversive candle for all of us," she said in an interview on the Today morning show in 2022. A defense of smelling the rich to make them even richer.