AFTER THE HUNT – Review by Valerie Kalfrin
Blond, poised, and enigmatic, Julia Roberts as an Ivy League professor draws the focus of After the Hunt, an academic potboiler that spends too much time on the radiant star instead of the character that sets the plot in motion.
At first, the drama seems to fit well within the cerebral, adult sensibilities of director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name, Suspiria, Challengers, Queer). Set at Yale, it explores the aftermath of a rape accusation that rocks one woman’s comfortable world. Yet its discussions of diversity, truth, and ethics end up feeling more superficial than probing, reduced to buzzwords like “the feminist generation gap” and “shallow cultural moment” instead of actual depth.
The film opens as philosophy professor Alma (Roberts, Leave the World Behind) hosts an expansive dinner party at her sprawling faculty apartment. Among the lively discussion, Alma holds court from a loveseat next to the loose-limbed Hank (Andrew Garfield, We Live in Time), an assistant professor so cozy in his body language that it takes a moment to realize he’s just a colleague. Alma’s therapist husband, Frederik (Michael Stuhlbarg, The Amateur), the chef responsible for the night’s delectable menu, sits across from them, more amused than jealous.
As the discussion turns to tenure, one student notes, “The villain has been chosen, and it’s a straight white cis man,” a comment that insults Alma, who says that implies she can’t earn tenure on her merits. The film soon puts that “villain” to the test when PhD candidate Maggie (Ayo Edebiri, The Bear) accuses Hank of assaulting her after walking her home from Alma’s party.
When Maggie confides in Alma instead of going to the police, Alma nearly freezes in shock. Hank quickly reaches out with his side of events, saying Maggie is lying because he accused her of plagiarizing her dissertation.
Meanwhile, Alma deals with debilitating stomach pains, squirreling away medication and an envelope of photos and mementoes in the guest bathroom. What’s she hiding? And how does this relate to the situation with Maggie and Hank?
Production designer Stefano Baisi and the art directors help build this privileged, insular world, where wood finishes in the classrooms and Alma’s apartment glow with a warmth (thanks to cinematographer Malik Hassan Sayeed) that the calculating characters don’t often share. The script by first-time screenwriter Nora Garrett, an actor (Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders) who appears here in a minor role, builds ambivalence and suspicion in dialogue and subtext well enough in the first half.
The performances are all strong. Alma feels caught between Maggie, a protégé to whom she offers her support, and Hank, a kindred spirit among the faculty. Garfield twists his affable warmth here into a portrait of a guy who everyone thinks is too handsy, then furious when this might ruin his career. Edebiri shows Maggie wanting her mentor to back her up, then bristling when there’s only so far Alma is willing to go.
Alma isn’t sure what she can do beyond tell Maggie that she believes her. But she also cautions Maggie about going public, saying she’ll become “radioactive,” known more for the accusation than her work, a concern for women both before and after #MeToo.
Yet the more After the Hunt focuses on Alma and her past than Maggie and the truth of the accusation, it loses momentum, feeling like a lecture that’s wound on too long over two hours and nineteen minutes. Maggie vents about how, as a Black woman, her assault has made “all these White people” deal with their own issues, but the film doesn’t fully engage with that or the racial dynamics, as if just mentioning this were enough.
After the Hunt raises questions about power and consent, but its execution comes up short.
