Film Review - After the Hunt
Images courtesy of Sony Pictures.
Spoilers ahead, and a content warning for discussion of sexual assault.
In After The Hunt, philosophy professor Alma’s (Julia Roberts) tenure is threatened when her long-time collaborator and fellow academic Hank (Andrew Garfield) sexually assaults her star pupil (Ayo Edebiri). Luca Guadagnino returns to the screen with the same poignant storytelling and a new look, courtesy of Malik Hassan Sayeed’s austere aesthetics. Nora Garrett’s propulsive psychological thriller drives the audience through a thicket of academic dialogue and harrowing interpersonal drama, delivering a new cynicism to Guadagnino’s body of work.
After The Hunt feels markedly different to Guadagnino’s other films - gone is the romantic nostalgia, and in its place stands a colder discussion about generational differences and consent. Alma’s Dostoevsky-esque downward spiral and reflection upon her own experiences seem to parallel Call Me By Your Name’s main character, Elio. After The Hunt converses with Guadagnino’s other films, and the culture at large. In a world of growing simplification, AI summaries and explanations, After the Hunt positions the audience at an uncomfortable remove, disallowing them an assignation of heroes and villains.
It’s less sure of itself than Guadagnino’s other films. In place of a resounding emotional statement, there are instead a series of questions. What does it mean to be in love? To be autonomous? What does feminism look like collectively, and amongst different generations? Can those differences be reconciled? Few, if any answers are ever delivered, and it is this inability to settle on an ending that I found frustrating with After the Hunt. Julia Roberts’ sweeping performance gets lost in the weeds of an uncertain final scene, despite a stand-out performance up to that point. Fans of Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall and Julia May Jonas’ Vladimir will enjoy After the Hunt’s refusal to do the thinking for you.
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After the Hunt is screening in cinemas now. For tickets and more info, click here.