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Directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name) and written by first-timer Nora Garrett, After the Hunt switches things up slightly for the filmmaker, delivering a dark, cold drama thriller. Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman) stars as Alma Imhoff, a college professor who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil (Ayo Edibiri) levels an accusation against one of her colleagues (Andrew Garfield), and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light, despite being well-acted, nicely shot, and featuring plenty of intriguing themes, After the Hunt is quite the opposite. Failing to stick the landing in messaging, pace, and dialogue, it’s a rare disappointment from the talented cast and crew.
A cast of this calibre is bound to deliver excellent performances, and they do their best to keep After the Hunt afloat. The film closely follows Roberts’ character Alma as she not only deals with her own marriage and health struggles, but is unsure how to approach her student Maggie’s accusation towards colleague Hank. As expected, she is great. Andrew Garfield also gives a notable performance, delivering the anger and stress of his character Hank with believable ease. From the accusation itself to the repercussions he faces, he is devilishly excellent at exhibiting the rage and charm needed.
Despite only having a small part to play, Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me By Your Name) is quite the scene stealer, adding some humor that the script benefits from. Ayo Edibiri (The Bear) plays her role similarly to her prior works, but the added emotional beats show some range, and Chloe Sevigny (Bones and All) does the best she can with her minimal run-time. However, there is one glaring issue here. It’s not unheard of for a movie to have a cast of unlikeable characters, and sometimes this can work; in After the Hunt’s case, it makes the movie hard to get behind. As good and likable as the talents are themselves, their characters are quite the opposite.
From a technical standpoint, bursts of Guadagnino’s flair are somewhat present. The movie is nicely shot, with close-ups that add to the intensity and uncomfortable nature of the themes within the script. One scene during the third act, featuring a snowy landscape is utterly stunning, and any shots that showcase the beauty of Yale look great. It also has wonderful music supervision, tracks ranging from Bowie’s ‘Underground’ to The Smiths ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’. That being said, there is also a lot of his regular style and flair missing. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are two of the best composers working today, especially when it comes to their previous collaborations with Guadagnino, namely Challengers. Here, however, their score is neither memorable nor overly impressive. Simplistic for their capabilities and relying on a concoction of heavy piano notes, it may occasionally match the tone of the movie it’s placed within, but is more of a distraction than a compliment. It also lacks the key emotions that normally burst from the screen in Guadagnino’s pictures – love, lust, yearning, and a notable sense of style. It just feels flat.
After the Hunt is made up of conversations between our characters, whether it’s Garfield attempting to convince Roberts of his innocence or philosophical debates between Sevigny, Roberts, and the rest of the Philosophy department. Due to the talent of our actors, plenty of the conversations are engaging, but this unfortunately means that plenty aren’t. To put it plainly, After the Hunt seeps into boring territory at times, it rehashes key themes and features, jargon-fueled dialogue that fails to engage. A film about an accusation such as this warrants exploration of heavy themes, though unfortunately, said exploration becomes quite messy and overstuffed. Privilege, power, academia, modern feminism, and the difficulty of obtaining the objective truth are all present here, which sounds interesting on paper, but After the Hunt winds up having little to say as it floats between them all too frequently, whilst failing to add anything worthwhile to the conversation each time. The run-time does not help its case, clocking in at 140 minutes and feeling like it could’ve been tighter.
From the synopsis and marketing, many viewers expected a taut, intense thriller with good exploration of its themes and a poignant message. Whilst it showcases great acting and subtly enjoyable cinematography, it misses the mark in story. It’s not a tight thriller but a slow-paced bundle of conversations, all trying to engage the audience and add something intriguing to the conversation, but most failing to do so. Despite the potential, After the Hunt feels flat and not up to standard for what was expected, though the cast almost makes it worth the viewing.
Grade: C-
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After the Hunt
A college professor finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues, and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.
Release Date: October 10, 2025
Director: After the Hunt
Cast: Julia Roberts , Ayo Edebiri , Andrew Garfield
