The ticking of a clock blares over the opening minutes of After the Hunt, Luca Guadagnino’s new film, screened out of competition at the Venice Film Festival. It immediately unsettles the audience or hints at a bomb about to go off. Much later, near the end of the film, the beeps of a hospital heart monitor set the tempo. This progression reflects a feature-length drama that seeks to dissect the mechanisms at play within society and individuals, ultimately reaching what is most deeply human: our profound vulnerability.
With a particularly brilliant screenplay by Nora Garrett, After the Hunt draws on the many questions raised by the #MeToo movement to explore the human relationship to morality and ethics. These are subjects Alma (Julia Roberts) and Hank (Andrew Garfield) know well in theory: Both are philosophy professors at Yale, close friends as well as rivals, each vying to secure a coveted tenured position at the prestigious university.
Their future seems assured until a serious incident tears down the edifice they’ve built over many years. After a boozy dinner at Alma’s house, one of her favorite students, Maggie (Ayo Edebiri), who’s Black and from a wealthy, influential family at the university, accuses Hank of sexually assaulting her after a final drink at her home. Hank denies the accusation, claiming it is merely a diversion from suspicions of plagiarism he raised about her latest essay.
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