AFTER THE HUNT

by Victoria Alexander

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

Roberts’ well-deserved 2nd Oscar, smoking is back!, and Guadagnino intentionally irks his audience.

‘Irks his audience’? You’ll know it when you hear it.

Alma (Julia Roberts) is a renowned philosophy professor at Yale. She is on track for the hallowed academic state of tenure. Alma and her psychoanalyst husband Frederik (Michael Stuhlbarg) are getting ready for a party at their big apartment for colleagues and “special” doctoral students. Alma has help preparing for the party.

At the party, sitting next to Alma on a small sofa is Hank (Andrew Garfield), assistant professor of philosophy and a dear friend of Alma’s. He is sitting with his leg up and his foot on the sofa – inappropriately informal. Across from Alma are Frederik and friend and colleague, the university’s student liaison, Kim (Chloë Sevigny). Sitting in a chair next to Alma is her star protégée, Maggie (Ayo Edebiri). Unless you don’t pick up on the vibe, Hank kisses Alma on the lips when he leaves the party alongside Maggie.

AI says: To get academic tenure, you must work as a tenure-track assistant professor for a probationary period, typically six to seven years, and demonstrate excellence in research, teaching, and service.

As every hostess knows, an essential part of having a house party, especially a Yale faculty party, is to make — one hundred percent sure — the guest bathroom is clean and has toilet paper!

Shame on screenwriter Nora Garrett. Garrett needed a way for Maggie to hunt around the bathroom for toilet paper and find, taped to the top of one of the cabinets, a small envelope containing private papers hidden by Alma. This secret place – in the guest bathroom cabinet – is not any woman’s hiding place. But it does advance the story.

If only star-struck Maggie was spying in the bathroom cabinets because she wants to learn something private about her mentor/role-model professor instead of showing what a lousy hostess Alma is by not checking the guest bathroom’s toilet paper!

If we have missed the innuendoes of the closeness between Alma and Hank, Alma watches through the door’s peephole as Hank and Maggie laugh while waiting for the elevator.

Later, Frederik remarks that he saw Alma’s flirting and said that her “favorites” are always those elite students who idolize her.

Every hostess knows to put a new roll of toilet paper in the bathroom.

[My husband calls my friends “sycophants.” Am I supposed to have friends who insult me, ridicule my decisions, and do not adore me?]

Maggie comes from a privileged family who have made major donations to Yale. Maggie’s pride of place is as Alma’s most brilliant student. The Yale humanities department is well aware of the indulgent, neo-Marxist ideology of their young, rich students.

Today’s university students wield tremendous power over faculty, grades, and the rarefied world of the campus culture.

Maggie lives in a rundown apartment with her protester partner Alex (Lio Mehiel). Maggie does not appreciate that her wealthy parents paved her way to Yale. Her parents’ influence does not carry over into her academic work. But, as Frederik reminds Alma, she favors students who hold her as a beloved icon. Maggie dresses like Alma in black-and-white ensembles. Maggie wears her nails like Alma – short and dark-colored.

Party conversation and obtuse philosophy classwork indicate that a Ph.D. in philosophy means only getting a job teaching someone else’s philosophy to uninterested students who would never read Schopenhauer.

Did you know that some colleges teach “The Philosophy of George R.R. Martin?”

The next evening Maggie waits for Alma to come home. It is raining, and Maggie is soaking wet. Is it always raining because the actress cannot cry on cue? Maggie knows that Alma is for women’s rights and will believe her when told about Hank’s abuse. Did he try to kiss her? Maggie refuses to tell Alma that Hank raped her. Alma should understand what Maggie is implying. She refuses to give Alma a blow-by-blow account.

Alma has perfected the idealized vision of a wealthy, highly educated, culturally astute feminist Ivy League professor. Frederik is her loyal subject – just like her favored students! He does the cooking, never asks where she has been, never questions her, and loves her.

He tells her how beautiful she is and how much he loves her. If she doesn’t like his beard, he will shave it off; if she doesn’t like his little belly, he will exercise.

Is Frederik a faceless doormat? No! He has his own peculiarities! He plays music extremely loud, 10-decibel loud, at a pitch that would send anyone into a seizure, and he enjoys watching pornography.

Maggie wants Alma’s help. She intends to press charges against Hank for rape. We know Alma is very attached and perhaps is or was having an affair with Hank. Alma knows even an accusation of rape will destroy Hank. Alma meets with Hank. He says he never touched Maggie. He told Maggie she was a lazy student and he knew she plagiarized an important paper. Hank says her claim of rape is to blunt his plagiarism charge. Maggie struck first, and rape will negate his plagiarism charge.

Maggie wants Alma to testify about Hank’s flirtatious behavior and that she came to Alma for guidance immediately afterward.

Alma is between “a rock and a hard place.”

Alma’s intense privacy makes her an enigma amongst her colleagues, friends, and Frederik. She keeps herself aloof while suffering from a debilitating illness. Alma finds herself in a difficult position. She knows the university will urge her to factor in Maggie’s parents’ financial endowments.

And what secret is Alma hiding in the guest bathroom?

As a feminist, Alma must side with Maggie; yet, she knows Maggie’s plagiarism will end her Yale education and will shame her parents. Alma’s vast knowledge of philosophy surely noticed Maggie’s plagiarism.

This is Julia Roberts’ best role in decades. She has been given two fantastic scenes — one of brittle fury at Maggie and a scene of confession. Both are truly memorable.

What was the reason for the horrible loud ticking noise in the beginning of the opening credits? Why was it necessary for Sevigny to be aged 35 years? And here lies the other problem I have with the screenplay: Kim should have never done what she did to Alma. Or is that what jealous colleagues do when presented with the opportunity?

Guadagnino honors Roberts’ place in Hollywood and gives the star a complex role. Alma is beautifully dressed, and Roberts looks fabulous. Roberts’ performance is a master class in acting. Her micro-expressions show an actor’s skill in expressing inner emotions.

Hopefully, Roberts, with AFTER THE HUNT, leaves those horrible rom-coms and avoids co-starring with George Clooney.

Has Guadagnino felt the presence of studio heads as he is now firmly inside the Hollywood machine? Will he find disruptive ways to show he is not a “hired hand”? Will he give Stuhlbarg a character part all his own?

Did Hank rape Maggie? What did the “5 YEARS LATER” ending mean? All is forgiven and invites to Christmas dinner have been sent. And Kim remains the villain of AFTER THE HUNT because it is never resolved if a rape occurred.