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Why After the Hunt is stirring debate
Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt lands as a campus thriller that refuses tidy answers. Centered on a messy, contested allegation — a PhD student accuses a beloved professor of misconduct — the film traces how accusation, loyalty and reputation ripple through an academic circle. At the New York Film Festival premiere, Julia Roberts said she hopes the film sparks conversations; she also insisted that, at its core, the story is about love and forgiveness.
Guadagnino assembles a fine ensemble: Roberts plays Alma, a philosophy professor torn between public success and private denial; Andrew Garfield is Hank, the charismatic professor at the center of the allegation; Ayo Edebiri is Maggie, the graduate student whose accusation sets the story in motion. Michael Stuhlbarg appears as Alma's husband, a psychiatrist who watches the tensions escalate.
Deliberate ambiguity and layered performances
Rather than offering a conclusive moral verdict, the film leans into ambiguity. Garfield and Edebiri have both described the production as an excavation: actors probing motives that are partly conscious and partly buried. Stuhlbarg likened the viewing experience to a slow-motion train wreck — you sense the collision coming, but the exact shape of the impact is left open to the audience. That unwillingness to pin down a single truth is one of the film's defining risks and rewards.
Behind the scenes, Guadagnino encouraged prolonged rehearsal and exploration. Cast members rehearsed at Roberts' home, a fact that Edebiri praised as freeing — a rare, intimate space to test interpretations, 'fool ourselves' and create real, precarious chemistry.
Music, motifs, and what it all means
A recurring song appears seven times in the film, a deliberate motif Roberts cites as evidence of the film's obsession with forgiveness. That musical repetition underlines Guadagnino and screenwriter Nora Garrett's interest in internal reckoning rather than courtroom clarity.
Context and comparisons
After the Hunt sits at the intersection of Guadagnino's introspective style (think Call Me by Your Name) and his appetite for formal intensity (recall Suspiria). It also participates in a recent wave of films that tackle sexual misconduct and institutional power — from The Assistant to Promising Young Woman — but it distinguishes itself by prioritizing psychological ambiguity over moral certainty.
A few production notes: the film is produced by Brian Grazer and Imagine, and will open in NY and LA on Oct 10 before expanding on Oct 17 via Amazon MGM Studios. Expect discussion — not consensus — after screenings.
In an era hungry for clear answers, After the Hunt opts for questions. That may frustrate some viewers, but for others it offers a richer, if unsettled, cinematic experience.
Source: hollywoodreporter
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