Emerald Fennell’s raucous country house thriller is awash with incredible looks circa 2006 and 2007, as put together by Sophie Canale – the Christopher Kane and Chanel seen on Carey Mulligan’s eccentric Pamela; the vintage Ossie Clark on Elspeth (a scene-stealing Rosamund Pike); Alison Oliver’s Venetia in Agent Provocateur – but we just couldn’t take our eyes off Felix, the foppish aristocrat who looks as good in black tie as he does in his crumpled shirts, rugby tops and Ralph Lauren jumpers (Prince Harry’s style from the period was a major influence).
The one detail which grounds us firmly in the era of indie sleaze, though, is his glinting eyebrow piercing, something he’s sadly forced to remove by his mother when he comes home to their grand estate. Stunningly, it’s an accessory that almost didn’t make it in – the director had to fight the producers for it. “I knew in my soul, having been a young woman in 2007 myself, that an eyebrow piercing would be the thing that would make you entirely lose your mind,” Fennell recently told Vogue. “They said, ‘We don’t understand why you would mar the most beautiful man in the world’s face with an eyebrow piercing’”, to which she replied, “If you have never been round the back of a nightclub with a boy with an eyebrow piercing and then cried into your kebab later, you have no skin in this game.” Amen.