Alma (Julia Roberts) and Hank (Andrew Garfield), are two professors at Yale School of Philosophy, and both up for tenure.  Maggie (Ayo Edebiri) is a promising graduate student in the program until after Hank walks her home from a house party held at Alma’s apartment, she files a report with the school that Hank had crossed a professional line with her.  As the investigation into these allegations progresses, secrets from Alma’s own past begin to surface and threaten her future at Yale.

Luca Guadagnino directs After the Hunt from first time feature script writer, Nora Garrett.  The 138 minute film debuted out of competition at the Venice International Film Festival shortly ahead of its theatrical rollout courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios.  They took the drama wide on over 1,200 screens nationwide, giving mature audiences some counterprogramming – or, rather, any programming – in a real slump at the fall box office.

After coming off of the electric high from Challengers (2024) and the more muted yet respectable reception of Queer (2024) – understandable if not quite fair – when news broke that Guadagnino’s next film would be tackling the complicated nature of cancel culture in an academic setting, eyes were rightfully rolled.  The result is not quite like anything one could have expected for better or for worse; reductively, Doubt (2008) by way of Tár (2022).  It plays out like a statley adult drama, which is no surprise given Guadagnino’s line of work, transplanting himself from his European vistas to the hallowed halls of Yale with tall buildings and parapets of stone that chillingly hold on to their secrets.  While his fingerprints can be found on the film, it stands out as a bit of an anomaly given its almost straightforward approach to narrative – even if details are kept close to the chest – and the almost sterile tone of the story lacks the sensuality which we have come to expect from this director, landing mutedly like a drink being sent down the bar and refused by its potential suitor.

At the center of the film is Roberts, impeccably dressed by Giulia Piersanti and haunting an equally impressive apartment, dressed by Lee Sandales working under Stefano Baisi’s production design.  She is an absolute anchor in this film, and though the script does not give her any true sizzle reel moment,s which may hold back her chances at getting awards recognition for this character study of a woman under the microscope, she is the only member of the core cast that comes out of this film able to hold their head high.  Sure, she does have the benefit of this story being one which passes through her and she is the closest thing we have to a point of view character, as questionably reliable as she may be, but against Garfield and Edebiri – each doing their best but woefully miscast – and serving as the immovable object to the unstoppable force that is whatever Frederik (Michael Stuhlbarg), her husband, is doing, without Roberts at the helm of After the Hunt, the film would have devolved into an unmitigated disaster.

The main issue with After the Hunt comes in how it handles its central mystery, which to even call it that on a narrative level makes it feel larger than it actually is but on a human level trivializes the very real topics of which Garrett is seeking to examine.  It is a difficult needle to thread as many difficult and complex themes are, but on a story level there just is not enough here for us to truly invest in these characters and their plight.  Edebiri, who is normally quite strong, is in over her head, here, and Garrett does little to help, throwing her character zero lifelines on the page.  She never becomes enough of a character that we can really begin to chart her actions as the catalyst of the story, at least in so far as it is her character who brings about the allegations that open the investigation that is at the heart of the film, but even then the administration seems to hands-off about the whole situation as if Garrett is hesitant to meaningfully engage with the parameters of the thought exercise she herself proposed.  A sharper script may have used this laissez faire handling as a point to be made, but here it just comes off as lazy writing, instead opting to delve into Alma’s strange and equally confounding past, desperately trying to set her up as a foil to Maggie and shift this drama into something akin to generational warfare.  Needless to say, the film misses the mark and presents a convoluted social mystery that we only ever half heartedly follow along with simply because the pedigree behind this film promises something much stronger.

As for the construction, it is almost regal in all the right ways, though oddly captured through Malik Hassan Sayeed’s lens who finds himself addicted to extreme closeup shots and cutaways, panning to and from the small details of the scene as one’s own eyes do when confronted in a lie.  While the heavy notes of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score pair perfectly with this uniquely frantic camera, this distracting visual approach could have been saved had his lens landed on anything substantial.  Instead, it seems rather to dart at will which also shows a surprising lack of acuity on behalf of Guadanino.  Even still, the frames are still packed with detail, and while the camera is frustrating, the lighting creates a wonderful color palate of earth tones – greens and browns – streaked by wintery whites, not representing innocence, but isolating audiences similar to how Maggie is feeling with her world seemingly turning its back on her.  This is all well and good had it been her story, but she is merely a player in the larger narrative that is centered around Alma so this palate does not translate as well once the focus of the story is considered.  Now, to be fair, Alma’s own world turns its back on her, too, but not in the same way as Maggie’s and because it is of her own doing, we do not have that same sympathy with her as we do with her protégé.

After the Hunt is a frustrating experience given who all is involved both in front of and behind the camera.  It is a hard film to recommend because even beyond the unsavory themes which it tackles, the actual story is rather limp.  These narrative issues all intensify over the course of the film which makes it even harder to stay invested.  There is a sequence early on at the house party where professors and students mingle and share a friendly debate about topics that go over audiences’ heads, and it is fine in that instance as there is enough of a party environment that we are really using this sequence to learn more about the characters’ temperaments and interpersonal relationships more so than gleaning any new philosophical understanding.  Later, however, the fun is stripped away and there is a dreadfully dull scene in a conference room where Alma eviscerates Katie (Thaddea Graham), another of her students, after she asks a question about the lesson we enter in on way too late. It is an almost uncharacteristic response as Alma she has not shown this particular flare for outward anger before, content to simmer away.  Despite this, we are tuned in enough to know that what she is saying is going to be key to unlocking the film, but it is so overwritten and hollow that we just tune it all out.  This imperfect scene is, in a way, a perfect encapsulation of the entire film; a lengthy  and thorny talking around the issue at hand, refusing to take blame, ownership, or action.