Yesterday, Luca Guadagnino’s “After the Hunt” expanded nationwide, making it eligible for a CinemaScore grade, which polls moviegoers across the country about wide releases.
The bad news is that audiences seem to hate “After the Hunt,” as it received a “C–” grade from those surveyed.
Moviegoers appear to be aligned with critics who have demolished Guadagnino’s #MeToo-themed drama starring Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, and Ayo Edebiri — 39% on Rotten Tomatoes. In fact, it might just be Guadagnino’s worst-reviewed film to date.
“After the Hunt” seems to have struck a nerve. From what I gather, many people dislike the film because—SPOILERS AHEAD—it forces viewers to grapple with their own biases and suspicions. The film offers no final, clear-cut resolution or definitive unmasking of the guilty party. It doesn’t fully exonerate anyone, leaving several possibilities open. Audiences often expect closure, and “After the Hunt” simply doesn’t give them that.
Set in the world of Yale academia, the film orbits around a sexual assault accusation that tears through an elite philosophy department. Doctoral student Maggie Resnick (Edebiri) accuses her professor, Hank Gibson (Garfield), of assault after a party hosted by Alma Imhoff (Roberts), a fellow faculty member caught between them. Each side spins its own version of events: Hank claims Maggie fabricated the accusation to deflect from her plagiarism scandal; Maggie insists her mentor’s intellectual mentorship veered into predator-dom.
I haven’t seen this one since Venice, but where “After the Hunt” stumbles — in pacing, in subtlety, in tonal control — Julia Roberts soars. As Alma, she delivers an exquisite performance. In a just world, Roberts would be in the thick of the Oscar conversation. She hasn’t had material this morally tangled or psychologically rich in years, and she transforms Alma into something achingly human: a woman paralyzed by conscience, trapped between intellect and instinct.
If “After the Hunt” doesn’t fully gel its ambitious ideas, Roberts comes out of it the true winner — and she makes you wish the film were as nuanced as her work here. “After the Hunt” may frustrate, even alienate, but Roberts’ performance cuts through the noise.
Coppola lost more than $100M on "Megalopolis," got hammered for it, and he knows the clock is running out for one more film. If "Glimpses of the Moon" is that film, someone needs to write the check soon.