Releasing in select theaters Oct. 16, director Luca Guadagnino’s 2025 “After the Hunt” questions reliability and the line between professionalism and unethical behavior, all set on the campus of Yale University. 

Among the hazy halls of the Philosophy department, a crossroad of professionalism and personal life explodes as a student and professor go to war over an accusation. 

Despite the film’s promise of an intriguing and delivery of amazing performances, the overall product is incredibly underwhelming. With stars like Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield and Julia Roberts under the directorial leadership of Guadagnino, the film itself feels muddied and lacks an actual purpose. 

The plot follows the disintegration of a teacher-student relationship between Roberts’ Professor Alma Olsson and Edebiri’s Maggie Price, as Maggie levels a sexual assault complaint against Henrick “Hank” Gibson, played by Garfield. 

What follows is a two-hour drag as we are pulled from one interaction to another, watching Alma deteriorate as she tries to remain afloat. Meanwhile, Maggie and Hank fight for her support. 

The audience is left to question, alongside Alma, who is telling the truth: Maggie, or Hank, who claims she is falsely accusing him after the discovery of possible plagiarism in her thesis. 

The issue with this film is its substanceless beauty; it is well-acted and engagingly filmed, but there is always a wall separating the audience from Alma and the others. We watch as the trio references Greek theorists and Sigmund Freud while navigating what would normally be a sensitive topic. 

We are told they are smart because they are at Yale and regurgitate classic philosophical ideas, but the three rarely say what they are truly thinking and feeling. They hide behind greater minds and plagiarize their thinking while seemingly looking down on those outside of their world. 

I want to like this movie. It has the hallmarks of everything I should enjoy: a fantastic director, strong performances from a talented cast and captivating visuals. 

And yet, the film felt like a hollow testament to Yale, from someone who had never actually attended — with caricatures of its students and faculty, equally mocking and complimenting them. 

As someone who did not attend Yale or a freshman year philosophy course, I cannot help but wonder what the actual point of the film was. We are never told who is telling the truth, nor do we really care by the end. 

In the end, we are like Alma, impassive observers to the chaos of Maggie and Hank.