Julia Roberts in “After the Hunt”: The MeToo drama disappoints

“After the Hunt” premiered at this year’s Venice Film Festival. With the drama, Julia Roberts (57) returns to the big screen after a three-year absence. Even before its debut, the film was considered a potential Oscar candidate. Luca Guadagnino sat in the director’s chair and top-class actors such as Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny complete the cast. Although the film has an impressive cast, the weak script doesn’t do it justice.

The film tells the story of Alma Olsson (Roberts), a philosophy professor at Yale. Her students adore her, including Maggie Resnick (Edebiri), Alma’s favorite student. She throws a party with her husband Frederik (Stuhlbarg) and invites her friends and students. In addition to Maggie, the guests also include her younger colleague Hank Gibson (Garfield). At the end of the evening, Maggie and Hank say goodbye to Alma and go home.

The next day, Maggie doesn’t come to Alma’s lecture. Later she shows up in front of Alma’s apartment and tearfully says that she had a drink with Hank in her apartment. He later forced himself on her and sexually abused her. Maggie intends to make Hank’s crime public and asks Alma for support. Alma later meets Hank at a restaurant. He swears the story is a lie. Rather, he found plagiarism in Maggie’s thesis and told her that he would report it. Her accusation was only intended to forestall an investigation.

Roberts proves once again that she is one of the best in her field. Her role as Professor Alma is complex. She embodies a complex character. Alma has her own secrets and battles inner demons. Roberts has an impressive charisma that makes it impossible to take your eyes off her. She dominates every scene and overshadows the rest of the cast.

However, that is also one of the problems with the film. Alma is an interesting character, but she is only indirectly related to the film’s central conflict. Yet the film insists on her being the focus. This causes the actual story to lose its impact. Maggie, who claims to be the victim of a sexual assault, is relegated to a minor character. The viewer follows her fight for justice primarily through the dialogues she has with Alma. However, the focus is always on Alma and her inner conflict: which side does she believe?

However, “After the Hunt” impresses on a technical level. Production designer Stefano Baisi manages to convincingly transform the British filming locations into an American university town. Cameraman Malik Hassan Sayeed delivers wonderful shots of the snowy university town. The film music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross contributes to the uncomfortable atmosphere.

“After the Hunt” is not Luca Guadagnino’s best film. The script has many half-baked ideas. The actors, however, enhance the material. Julia Roberts delivers an Oscar-worthy performance as the leading actress and Ayo Edebiri shows a completely different side.