Luca Guadagnino has always been drawn to the slippery edges of human desire and morality, and in ‘After the Hunt’, he turns his gaze toward academia. The result is a slow-burn psychological thriller that wants to interrogate truth, power, and complicity, though not always with the sharpness it promises.
Set at Yale, the story follows professor Alma Olsson (Julia Roberts) as she’s drawn into a misconduct scandal involving her student Maggie (Ayo Edebiri) and colleague Hank (Andrew Garfield). As accusations spread, Alma’s own past surfaces, blurring the line between truth and survival.
Roberts delivers one of her best late-career performances: conflicted, authoritative, and quietly haunted. Garfield slips between charm and menace, while Edebiri steals the show with sharp intensity, embodying both vulnerability and ambition. The supporting cast, including Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny, provide texture but little depth.
Malik Hassan Sayeed’s cinematography favors shadowy interiors and muted tones, creating a claustrophobic atmosphere that mirrors the story’s moral grayness. While the 139-minute runtime feels stretched, the tension holds in the film’s quieter confrontations.
‘After the Hunt’ is a compelling a drama where performances outweigh pacing, and where the question of truth lingers long after the credits.
