SPOILER WARNING
Personal morality is put to the test in the new psychological thriller “After the Hunt” starring Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri and Michael Stuhlbarg. The film premiered at the 63rd New York Film Festival on Sept. 26 and wasted no time in pulling viewers into a tense and unsettling story about a college professor, Alma Olsson (Roberts), whose world begins to unravel as a queer student, Maggie Price (Edebiri), accuses the professor’s colleague, Henrik Gibson (Garfield), of sexual assault. I had the opportunity to attend a roundtable with the cast and crew where questions regarding the creation and content of the film were discussed.
The movie is directed by Luca Guadagnino, who is known for creating morally ambiguous films like “Call Me By Your Name” (2017) and “Challengers” (2024). This new film dives into something more sensitive while keeping with his signature style.
“In this movie in particular, I think intimacy is the breaking point more than in other movies that I made, where intimacy is the reach to the other, the love for the other, the desire for the other,” Guadagnino said. “In this movie, the desire for the other is an appearance.”
From the very beginning, the film plants subtle clues that something is amiss. The slow burn of the introduction might test impatient viewers, but it rewards those who pay attention by giving them a key to Alma’s character later in the film.
Throughout the movie the viewers are never shown or told if Maggie was sexually assaulted or not, leaving the audience to form their own opinion on what the truth is. This forces the viewer to reflect on their own biases and relationship with truth. I find myself still siding with Maggie, not just because of Edebiri’s compelling performance, but because the film points out how stories like Maggie’s can be received in academic institutions.
The acting in this movie never left me wanting more. Every scene between Roberts and Edebiri increased the suspense of this unknown truth. With a comedic relief in Stuhlbarg and a conflicted liking for Garfield’s character, the actors infuse every scene with tension.
During the discussion, Edebiri and Garfield talked about the relationship between a student and their mentor.
“There’s something about mentorship, like true mentorship, that has baked into it betrayal. I feel like … you have to grow beyond what you thought; the mentor is a figure of such a high elevation that you will always feel betrayed,” Garfield said.
Each shot, song choice and movement of the characters felt important as Guadagnino put together pieces of a puzzle to create an intimate and personal feeling.
“He shoots on film, and it makes things sacred,” Roberts said reflecting on his attention to detail. “It makes the space between action and cut a beautiful kind of pressure … It increases this feeling of intentionality, everything from the art on the walls to what we’re doing with our hands – it’s considered and in conversation.”
This intentionality was felt throughout the film, keeping me glued to the screen trying to pick apart what each detail added to the storylines. The psychological weight of what happens between these characters was heightened by the quality of the details from Guadagnino’s directorial choices.
In the wake of the #MeToo movement’s peak, “After the Hunt” challenges audiences to reflect on their views of power, trust and perception. Whether you believe Maggie’s story or think she made it up, this film makes you think about what it means to tell a story and to believe it. The film is now playing in select theaters but will expand to it’s national theatrical release on Friday, Oct. 17.
