AFTER THE HUNT

(director: Luca Guadagnino; screenwriter: Nora Garrett; cinematographer: Malik Hassan Sayeed; editor: Marco Costa; music: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross; cast: Julia Roberts (Alma), Ayo Edebiri (Maggie), Andrew Garfield (Hank), Michael Stuhlbarg (Frederik), Chloë Sevigny (Dr. Kim Sayers), Lío Mehiel (Alex), David Leiber (Dean RJ Thomas), Thaddea Graham (Katie), Will Price (Arthur); Runtime: 139; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Brian Grazer, Luca Guadagnino, Jeb Brody, Allan Mandelbaum; An Amazon MGM Studios release; 2025)

“Things conclude in a far too simplistic way.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino (“Suspiria”/ “Challengers”) stylishly directs a timely psychological drama on the culture war set on an elite college campus. It’s scripted by Nora Garrett, whose messy story leaves a lot of loose ends.

Alma (Julia Roberts) is a haughty Yale philosophy professor married to the college’s psychotherapist Frederick (Michael Stuhlbarg).

Alma and her colleague Hank (Andrew Garfield) are both up for tenure.

After a dinner party at Alma’s apartment, Hank walks home Alma’s favorite Ph.D. candidate Maggie (Ayo Edebiri), a Black lesbian from a wealthy family. The next day Maggie tells Alma that Hank violated her – which he passionately denies.

Conflict arises, as Alma realizes her tenure depends on how she reacts to the testy sexual misconduct situation of he said-she said, and offers neither one her support.

The frightened administration fires Hank, who is upset Alma never supported him.

Twists in the story come when Maggie discovers from an old newspaper clipping, a damaging secret from her past.

Things conclude in a far too simplistic way, without the filmmaker taking sides who is right or wrong, leaving that up to the viewer. Alma’s support, eventually going to Maggie, is not based on her moral convictions but due to circumstances. However, the spirited performance by Roberts allows me to give this heavy-handed melodrama a gentleman’s passing grade despite some concerns I had with the way it so softly pedaled the hot button issue of cancel culture by only taking a few safe shots at the campus being ruled by a “woke” culture.

It played at the Venice Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 12/9/2025  GRADE: B-
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