After the Hunt
Credit: Amazon, Sony.
Intriguing, but uneven. Luca Guadagnino’s campus-set-caper After The Hunt is lost in a gumbo of delicious ingredients that never quite coalesce. The film follows fictional Yale professor Alma (excellent Julia Roberts), forced to confront her own past when a sexual assault accusation erupts between her colleague (tox-masc Andrew Garfield) and a student (sanctimonious Ayo Edibiri). For a film concerned with identity politics, After the Hunt’s own sense of self feels unresolved: individual elements work, but—like best friends in study hall—lose focus side-by-side.
As usual, Guadagnino deftly combines subtle characterization with romantic flourish. We just wish we could see Roberts’ Alma in a sharper, funnier film. Nora Garett’s script aims for a #MeToo-era Rorschach test—part campus noir, part identity-politics farce—but his melodramatic instincts clash with her cerebral design. Loaded with SAT words (is this really how people talk at Yale?), the tone swings between prestige and parody. When posturing academics debate philosophy, less would have been more: characters are supposed to struggle with each other, not the dialogue.
Not even the subdued Trent Reznor-Atticus Ross score can rescue this film’s tonal confusion. Warbling horns draw attention to a lack of suspense; a ticking clock leitmotif underscores the film’s excessive length.
However: Moments of brilliance shine through. Roberts and Michael Stuhlbarg (as her persnickety husband) elevate every frame. A blistering classroom scene where she skewers her students is both hilarious and devastating. And to writer Garett’s credit, her script has the courage to push the narrative in unexpected directions. Even missed landings are conversation-starters.
Sadly, the film’s refusal to answer its own questions results in a cop-out ending. Think diet-Tár.
Reviewed at NYFF 2025.
135 min.
Where to Watch: Now in theaters.