I like Julia Roberts, I really like Ayo Edebiri and I love Luca Guadagnino, so know that I’m disappointed to have not liked “After the Hunt.” I went into this film having read many opinions online. Most people were ambivalent or didn’t like the film, but I knew I shouldn’t let their thoughts dissuade me; I had to see it for myself. After watching, I can confirm that “After the Hunt” doesn’t portray the topics it deals with well and is only redeemed by director Guadagnino’s visuals.
“After the Hunt” stars Roberts as Alma, a philosophy professor seeking tenure at Yale University. Her best friend is Hank (Andrew Garfield), a fellow professor competing for the same position. Conflict arises when their Ph.D. student, Maggie (Edebiri), tells Alma that Hank assaulted her after a party. Alma doesn’t respond well and asks her to leave. From there, the film follows the trio as Maggie takes action against Hank, and Alma’s own past begins to haunt her.
The narrative of the film is completely situated in Alma’s perspective, which means that most of the suspense comes from the possibility that Maggie could be lying. Hank attempts to clear his name to Alma, saying he was only accused because he caught Maggie plagiarizing her dissertation. There is a sense that Alma wants to believe him, but she also knows she’d benefit from getting the tenured position if Hank’s fired.
In scenes focusing on Maggie, her presence mainly serves to perpetuate the film’s uncertainty. This leads Maggie to be a critically underdeveloped character. Even as the central crux of the story, all we know of her is in relation to Alma — as a rich, stupid student who flatters her professor. Because we never see Maggie process the assault herself, the film risks reducing a serious issue as a tool to create suspense — a mere device which, instead of just advancing the film’s plot, reinforces harmful stereotypes about sexual assault survivors.
While watching, I struggled to piece together the meaning of the film. I initially theorized that karma might be the key. Throughout the film, both Alma and Hank believe, in some way, someone is out to get them. Hank, before being called out by Maggie, believes his downfall will be that Alma will get tenure over him just for being a woman. But in actuality, he is undone by his own actions, being run out of Yale after Maggie comes forward.
Alma has her own karmic debt to pay. She believes Maggie’s accusation will hurt her due to her poor initial reaction. She spends the film worried about it, which in turn exacerbates an existing health problem and leads her to abuse prescription pain medication. The peak of the film is when Alma is called into a meeting that she thinks will be about Maggie. It then turns out to be an intervention where she’s fired for stealing prescription pads from a coworker.
This could’ve been an interesting theme that I wish the film explored more. But my theory falls flat at the end of the movie. We find out that Maggie was plagiarizing her dissertation, yet in the epilogue, there are no consequences. Maggie and Alma reunite five years later, both more confident and more successful. Although this could be a nod toward realism and an absence of real accountability, the lack of a cohesive conclusion makes the film confusing and contradictory.
The saving grace of “After the Hunt” is the film’s visuals, including Guadagnino’s direction. Every shot feels dynamic and interesting, wordlessly conveying different characters’ feelings. The ticking Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score was great and only added to the suspense. The costuming also gives insight into the paths of characters throughout the film, such as Maggie and Alma dressing nearly identically when they’re aligned and drifting apart as they disagree. These combined add a level of connection to the film that the script lacks.
Unfortunately, good visuals aren’t the only thing needed to be a good watch. “After the Hunt” could’ve been interesting, but by focusing on the suspense of “cancel culture” rather than the actual issues the film discusses, it loses meaning.
