Director: Luca Guadagnino
Starring: Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg, Chloë Sevigny
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 139 mins

After The Hunt is the new Luca Guadagnino film, who has been rather prolific with Bones And All, Challengers and Queer all releasing over the last three years. His latest is a psychological thriller starring Julia Roberts as Alma, a Yale University professor who lives with her psychiatrist husband, Frederik (Michael Stuhlbarg). The film opens as they’re hosting a dinner party and in attendance are Alma’s colleague, Hank (Andrew Garfield) and Maggie (Ayo Edebiri), her top PhD student. Soon after, Alma finds herself trickily caught in between a sexual abuse accusation involving the two.

After The Hunt is another stylish work from Luca Guadagnino, but there’s no denying its script and story are very flawed. Debut screenwriter Nora Garrett’s script is very wordy and expository, with characters speaking unnaturally – it’s a rewrite short of success. There are also some contrivances to the story, but I was able to overlook these because the film is always entertaining. Your patience may vary though because of the film’s unsubtle provocative themes and I totally see why it’s getting mixed reviews.

Julia Roberts makes for an engaging lead as the college professor, fighting to stay on top of her worsening health problems, her university tenure and the awkward question of who to side with within the accusation. Ayo Edebiri is more than a match for Roberts as the PhD student who’s come from a family of riches. I’m not sure whether I’d say they’re good, but Andrew Garfield and Michael Stuhlbarg both certainly make an impression as Hank and Frederik. A scene with Garfield chowing down on an Indian meal is particularly memorable as he gives his account to Alma, while Stuhlbarg’s performance as the husband is uncharacteristically overripe.

The film’s very handsomely shot by Malik Hassan Sayeed, his first cinematographer credit since 1998 and there’s a fittingly prickly score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Although overripe, their score does quite a lot of the heavy lifting in ensuring there’s tension – but I’d say the film loses some of its steam as it heads into its final act and an overly indulgent coda.

While After The Hunt isn’t Luca Guadagnino’s best work, there’s no denying it’s a film that only he could have made with its provocative messages and sexually-charged execution. The script is this film’s biggest issue and I think it’d be just as effective if it were 20 minutes shorter, too, but still there’s plenty to like and I was never bored.