Rob Reviews "After the Hunt"

As After the Hunt begins, there is a title card that simply reads “it happened at Yale”.  This led me to believe that Luca Guadagnino’s latest offering was based on a true story, but in my post-screening research I found out that this is not the case. Nora Garrett has her first screenwriting credit here in a tale that can be billed as a psychological thriller, but also as a couple and a half hours in a theater that may or may not be worth it.

Julia Roberts is Alma, a professor of philosophy married to therapist Frederik (Michael Sthulbarg).  She has a great relationship with the handful of students she deals with, all working on their theses but most closely with Maggie (Ayo Edebiri).  After a small gathering at their home, Alma’s colleague and long-time best friend in Hank (Andrew Garfield) agrees to walk Maggie home.  The next evening, Alma comes home to Maggie waiting for her and confiding that Hank assaulted her in her apartment.  Alma then becomes caught in the crossfire of truths that may not be true and secrets that may be crucial to those truths.

When I rank my films at the end of the year, I was very high on this one for about the first two hours and ten minutes.  Guadagnino shoots this in a very Hitchcock-ian way, with non-traditional angles and random closeups meant to keep the attention on the scene itself while wanting to show subtle clues as to where his characters are at in their arcs.  With the constant twists and turns this story takes by questioning motives, revealing things that may or may not be a thing, and even moving my sympathies amongst the characters (Chloë Sevigny is here too in a small role that she CRUSHES to the point that I did not realize it was her), I was along for this ride.

The problem for me is that it just kind of falls apart at the end.  I understand that not everything in this life works itself out with a nice bow on top, but I just did not feel like I had a true grasp on where all of this story landed.  The performances here are absolutely stellar, with Garfield in the most creepy and slimy that I have EVER seen him, Stuhlbarg keeping everything grounded, Edebiri showing the intensity and grit that we all know her for, and Roberts matriarch-ing the entire production as the story unfolds.

After the Hunt is not a bad film by any stretch, but it just isn’t a good one either.  Don’t be shocked if there are some cinematography (from Malik Hassan Sayeed) and performance award nominations here, but from a Best Picture standpoint, 2025 may not be the year for this film given how crowded that category is for me.  Check it out, but stay focused to keep up with the story.