“After the Hunt” is an ultimately unsatisfying film experience. Although the acting is superb, the characters are ultimately so flawed that it becomes hard to care about their plights. There are major themes explored that are relevant to the American conversation, but these are dealt with superficially as characters are more archetypes than real people.

The story begins at Yale. Alma (Julia Roberts) is a philosophy professor seeking tenure. Her prize student is doctoral candidate Maggie (Ayo Edibiri).

An early party scene occurs at Alma and her husband Frederick (Michael Stuhlbarg)’s apartment. Frederick is a great cook and a music lover. His oversize personality seems to counterbalance his wife’s seriousness. He clearly loves Alma despite what seems like a lack of reciprocation on her part.

At the party, Hank (Andrew Garfield) brings up many topics—among them the topic of tenure. He and Alma both are vying for the same single slot. The two seem affable enough about the subject. Hank seems to be very outgoing and touchy-feely.

Maggie needs to use a bathroom and is referred to the guest bathroom by Alma. There is only an empty toilet-paper roll in the holder. While searching for a new roll in the cabinets. Maggie stumbles upon an envelope taped to the top of the inside of the cabinet.

Although it is none of her business, she opens its contents. There is a picture of a man, a cloth, and an article written in German. She replaces everything but the newspaper account.

When Maggie and Hank leave together, Alma peeks through her peephole in the door at them. She sees them get into the elevator together.

The next day Alma comes home in a driving rainstorm. Maggie is cold and shivering at her doorstep. Alma tries to cover her to warm her and invites her in. Maggie insists that they talk on a staircase.

Maggie reveals that Hank came to her house and asked for a nightcap. He later assaulted her. No specific details are given, but Maggie clearly said no and was ignored. She wants Alma’s support as another woman.

Alma seems lukewarm in response. She wants Maggie to report the assault but is more neutral in her reaction. Maggie views this as a lack of support from another woman and leaves in a fury.

The next day Hank asks Alma to meet him in a restaurant. He gives her his side of the story. He realizes now that he has put himself in a he-said, she-said situation. He went up there supposedly to confront her about the fact that she had plagiarized part of her thesis. He claims that was the extent of his involvement. Alma is less than convinced.

Throughout this, Alma has shown signs of physical illness. She regularly doubles over in pain and retches into toilets. What is her illness? Will Hank be fired?

The tagline on the poster of this movie is “not everything is supposed to make you comfortable.” This is true of parts of the film where themes of racism, cancel culture, power relations, loyalty, friendship, and academic integrity are highlighted in the script.

But there is no deep discussion of these issues either by word or by actions. The focus veers away to the personal devastation the events have on particular characters. In that sense, you become aware of how individual lives can be impacted by the forces of culture. Yet the characters are all so flawed that it seems that the real reasons that they are caught up in the dramatic themes of the day is because of their errors in judgement.

Alma, for example, never discusses her illness with anyone. Rather than seek real medical help, she forges a prescription. Why any of this occurs is unclear. Even in the final frames when her condition is revealed, there seems to be no rhyme or reason for all of this.
She also has a vaguely-referenced past trauma, again not revealed until the final frames, which affects her behavior. So we just see a figure fraught with anxiety who retreats to a private hideaway.

Hank is flirtatious and touches people too much. He has let his persona of devil-may-care bon vivant get the better of him.

Dr. Kim Sayers (Chloe Sevigny) is a student liaison and friend of Alma. But at a bar she reveals how she hates the rich kids of Yale and their innate privilege. She also reveals details of Maggie’s interviews with her, which makes her a terrible confidant.
Sometimes I felt like I was watching an old Douglas Sirk movie. In any case, the resolution also seemed too tidy for a film that allegedly wants to have a discussion of major issues.

Still I am perplexed because each actor does a superb job with their unlikeable and uninteresting characters. I loved Roberts’ performance in “August: Osage County,” a highlight of her career. Here she perfectly embodies a confused driven woman. The same high quality of acting can be said for the rest of the ensemble cast.

While the movie does have some scenes on campus, what intrigued me was how divorced it was from academia. We see a few classroom settings, but mostly these people interact outside of the school. It was as if the viewer is supposed to assume from the early party scene and its academic discussions that this proved that they were professors and students.

This is a movie with a grand vision that is sabotaged by the flaws of its characters and the lack of character depth. Resorting to archetypal stances for the actors to portray lessens in a significant way the impact the picture hopes to have.

In the end, I found this film to be too cagey with exposing plot points. When they finally arrived too late, I didn’t care about the revelation.

Two out of five stars

From visionary filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, AFTER THE HUNT is a gripping psychological drama about a college professor (Julia Roberts) who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star student (Ayo Edebiri) levels an accusation against one of her colleagues (Andrew Garfield), and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come into the light. AFTER THE HUNT is written by Nora Garrett.

Cast: Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stulbarg, Chloë Sevigny
Directed by: Luca Guadagnino
Written by: Nora Garrett