After the Hunt

by Philip Price

Photo: Amazon MGM Studios

Director: Luca Guadagnino 
Starring: Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri & Andrew Garfield
Rated: R (language & some sexual content)
Runtime: 2 hours & 18 minutes

 
Luca Guadagnino has always seemed more interested in instigating than he has entertaining, whether that be via sexuality, cannibalism or even peaches - the filmmaker is intentional about forcing audiences to not only engage with his work but consider it, question it and debate it. “After the Hunt” might be his most pointedly provocative project thus far as it is a movie expressly made for the purposes of the conversations that will come afterward. The fact I'm spending enough time thinking about this movie to write a review aside, I’ve never felt so passionate about something that I would choose to die on any specific hill (spare me your own opinions). I say this (probably optimistically) because I like to imagine people come to their conclusions and form their points of view based on insight or experience that would garner them valid reason for feeling the way they do, so while it is easy to say I understand where everyone in “After the Hunt” is coming from the film more or less forces the viewer to pick a side, to draw their own conclusions and in light of the conclusions one draws, question what those positions say about you as a person. 
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As the common enemy of the evolution revolution - a cis, straight, white male - I found this film to almost be designed as something of a trap for those who fall into any of the above categories and/or relate to or simply like Michael Stuhlbarg's character the most. Guadagnino and screenwriter Nora Garrett are fans of nuance, sure, giving multiple facets to everyone included in this elitist, privileged club but more importantly, relaying reason to simultaneously believe and doubt each person involved for different reasons. The core question of what did or did not happen and whether a line was crossed or if there were several comes in second to Garrett's thesis though, which she shares with Ayo Edebiri's character, this regarding virtue ethics. The majority of those in positions of such privilege and power who purport to hold the moral high ground only do so for the appearance of being virtuous and not because their actions would remain the same regardless of the circumstances; a truth that holds strong no matter how much one might pad it with philosophical babble.

It isn't said to be dismissive, but more so to communicate awareness that the kind of high-minded debates and conversations that take place in the Yale Philosophy department where “After the Hunt” is largely set can get so far up their own asses they often times go from profound to weightless at the drop of a hat. That said, one of the film's most scathing aspects of its many investigations is when Stuhlbarg's Frederik - husband to Julia Roberts' Alma - interrogates (or intimidates) Edebiri's Maggie when she comes over to their house for dinner after having accused Alma's fellow professor, Hank (Andrew Garfield), of sexually assaulting her. The entire situation is obviously a sensitive one, but Garrett has layered each character with complications that muddy the waters further. Maggie is a Black, gay student accusing a white, male teacher. Hank is a known favorite of the students who clearly has some unspoken bond with Alma, but he's also made Maggie aware that he knows she plagiarized her most recent paper. No details of said accusation are ever stated aloud between two characters. Maggie's parents are notable, wealthy and apparently donate much of that wealth to the university every year. Alma is caught in the middle and, along with Hank, up for tenure. She doesn't want to ruffle feathers, yet she understands in the current climate that optics tend to matter more than substance. Most thorny is the fact Alma seems to surmise the truth of the matter as dialogue like, "Is she brilliant or does she just think you’re brilliant?" and “kowtowing to a mediocre student with rich parents,” are muttered one too many times to not usher viewers toward the line of thought that Maggie is, if not lying, at least embellishing in order to orchestrate a particular image and convey a specific tone. 

Ethan Hawke plays something of an insufferable academic in the 2015 film “Maggie’s Plan” where he has a line of dialogue that has stuck with me in the decade since seeing it (and is a movie I only saw once). As a professor of "ficto-critical anthropology" he tells his students to, "Avoid the word ‘like,’ stating that, "it’s a language condom." Substitute "interesting" for "like" in that quote and you have exactly what Stuhlbarg is zeroing in on when the Maggie of “After the Hunt” joins him and Alma for dinner. Frederik questions Maggie every time she uses the word "interesting," pushing for a deeper insight into her current thesis not because he has any real interest in the subject but solely for the reason of exposing that she is unable to keep up intellectually. Is this holding a standard or inflicting undeserved hurt, again - that's up to the viewer, but what these actions explicitly suggest is that Maggie's sole objective is to lock down a credible source to legitimize her story and Alma, given her relationship to both parties, is the prize. Guadagnino, and I assume Garrett as well, would say they want viewers to draw their own conclusions and maybe my skewed by nature instincts are what led me to my own answers, maybe it's my inherent prejudices against the coddled and the elite that cause it to feel like everyone in Maggie’s world is a little fed up with her bullshit, but it also feels like Guadagnino and Garrett are very conscious of the game they're configuring. 

The casting of Edebiri specifically, as a woman of color in a position where society has failed women and women of color time and time again, is especially calculated in what could be considered either genuinely provocative or completely tacky; a Julius Eastman musical selection during a particular scene could push one over the edge either way. The issue here is that provocation should have a point and it's not evident even after thoughtful consideration what exactly “After the Hunt” means to accomplish with all of the said nuance and calculation. Making this pill even harder to swallow is that Edebiri lacks the ethos, pathos and logos to convince viewers the case is more complicated than it appears - resulting in a think piece that reassures the exceptions rather than analyzing why the rules are largely ignored.

To this end, “After the Hunt” seeks to address a multitude of hot button, objectively offensive issues yet by the time we arrive at the half-hearted and largely confusing conclusion it simply feels as if the film is exploiting this “shallow cultural moment” all while preserving itself in the aesthetic of a west elm furnished home. The topics on which the film touch both simultaneously have zero interest in and are completely consumed with facade. The film is a story of people who believe they're the smartest person in any room they enter, who understand what their outward image indicates and craft it with purpose while pretending it all comes naturally. The film gives off the same energy. The visual assistance of a consistently rainy campus against Roberts' wardrobe of icy white fabrics and austere blonde hair through to the Woody Allen font is all so specific yet none of it feels especially fresh and none of it is as enticing or scandalous as it wants to be considered. Guadagnino utilizes multiple close-ups only of character's hands in the midst of conversations with what feels like no reason beyond seeing what justifications critics might associate the choice with later. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' score feels drenched in ‘Social Network’ throwaways whereas it would seem one scene in particular was written immediately after Garrett witnessed Cate Blanchett in “Tár.” That all sounds more harsh than it might be meant as Roberts is the anchor that pulls all of the films theoretical ideas around "what is right?" and all of Guadagnino's stylistic choices together, but despite the pedigree of the production and the high acumen of the conversations occurring it becomes more and more apparent that the film wishes to benefit from bringing light to difficult topics while undermining the kinds of cases that the #MeToo and cancel culture movements were built upon.

Roberts is still a movie star and “After the Hunt” features what is some of her best, most interesting work in some time and it is her line about the difference between restorative justice and vengeance that speaks to the film's relationship with its broad topic in a way that doesn't necessarily make everything it offers more comprehensive but at least seems to clarify a key point. Guadagnino and Garrett's intentions might be for audiences to make up their own minds about who these characters truly are and what course of action they might take were they in their shoes and to their credit, a large part of the tone would suggest the filmmaker and screenwriter are mocking each of the individuals, their hypocrisy, and their egos - “Everything about this feels like a fuckin’ cliche!” - yet the instinct to exact retribution on the victim, no matter who a viewer places in that role, rather than seek to line the films dry humor with an authenticity about how badly the slanders against these movements need to be repaired feels morally irresponsible - especially when it concludes as it does. This is an entirely different discussion that ventures not into critiquing the film that was made but rather how it should have been made, so we won't travel that road. It does feel vital to note, however, that virtue ethics is labeled as such because it resists the attempt to define virtues in terms of some other concept that is taken to be more fundamental a la rules or consequences. “After the Hunt” understands the shades of variation and knowingly highlights this philosophy to emphasize the ease with which people will compromise their character while doing the same the moment it made the decision to muffle its own voice. I understand the film wasn't made to make us feel comfortable, but it might have at least alluded to something a little bolder.