After the Hunt

After the Hunt
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Luca Guadagnino
Written by	Nora Garrett
Produced by	Brian Grazer Allan Mandelbaum Luca Guadagnino
Starring	Julia Roberts Ayo Edebiri Andrew Garfield Michael Stuhlbarg Chloë Sevigny
Cinematography	Malik Hassan Sayeed
Edited by	Marco Costa
Music by	Trent Reznor Atticus Ross
Production companies	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Imagine Entertainment Frenesy Film Company Big Indie Pictures
Distributed by	Amazon MGM Studios (United States and Canada) Sony Pictures Releasing International (International)
Release dates	August 29, 2025 (2025-08-29) (Venice) October 10, 2025 (2025-10-10) (United States)
Running time	139 minutes[1]
Countries	Italy United States
Language	English
Budget	$70–80 million
Box office	$9.3 million[2][3]

After the Hunt is a 2025 psychological thriller film directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Nora Garrett. Starring Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny, it follows Alma, a college professor caught in a sexual abuse accusation involving one of her students and a colleague.

The film had its world premiere out of competition in the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on August 29, 2025, and was theatrically released in the United States by Amazon MGM Studios on October 10, 2025. The film received mixed reviews from critics, though Roberts and Garfield's performances received praise.^[4][5]

Plot

In September 2019, Alma Imhoff, a philosophy professor at Yale University, and her therapist husband Frederik Mendelssohn host a dinner party. Alma recently returned to her post after taking an extended medical leave; she experiences frequent bouts of pain and takes prescription medication. In attendance are Hank Gibson, Alma's colleague and best friend, and the openly queer Maggie Resnick^[6][7], her top PhD student.

Alma and Hank are both up for tenure. Maggie finds a mysterious envelope in the bathroom cupboard containing old mementos and pockets a newspaper clipping from the envelope. Frederik privately opines to Alma that Hank and Maggie are unremarkable and that she is drawn to them only because they greatly admire her. Hank walks Maggie home.

The next day, Maggie is absent from Alma's class. Alma finds Maggie outside her home later that night, and Maggie confides in Alma that Hank sexually assaulted her in her home after she invited him over for a nightcap. Maggie finds Alma insufficiently supportive and leaves. Alma speaks to Hank shortly afterwards, who denies the allegation, pointing out that Maggie invited him to her home for a nightcap as they were leaving Alma's dinner party. He also argues that Maggie is fabricating it because he accused her of plagiarizing her dissertation.

Alma further upsets Maggie by speaking to the dean without her permission. Maggie and Hank separately ask Alma for her support. Alma returns home and notices the newspaper clipping is missing from the envelope, prompting her to burn most of what was in it. The next day, Hank is fired and storms into Alma's classroom, angrily accusing her of not standing up for him to protect her own career. Hank bursts out, and Maggie walks outside. Alma follows Maggie and comforts her, inviting her to dinner that night. Maggie also mentions to Alma that a reporter approached her to talk about the allegation. The following day, Alma goes out for a drink with a colleague of hers, Dr. Kim Sayers, the university psychiatrist, who believes Maggie while voicing her disdain for how the students' generation treats their problems.

Maggie goes public with her allegation in the Yale Daily News. She also translates the German-language newspaper clipping, revealing that, as a teenager, Alma accused her father's friend Matthias Wolff of raping her but later recanted the accusation. She meets Alma and asks if this is why she reacted the way she did to Maggie's allegation. Alma, angry that Maggie violated her privacy, tells her to leave her alone.

Alma is caught forging a prescription for herself from Kim, and her tenure consideration is paused indefinitely. Afterwards, Alma runs into Maggie on campus and confronts her, making her own accusation of plagiarism, criticizing her work ethic, her mirroring of Alma's mannerisms and dress, her privilege as the child of wealthy Yale donors, and accuses Maggie of a performative relationship with her non-binary partner, Alex. Alma further insinuates that no one believes Maggie's allegation against Hank, prompting Maggie to slap her.

Alma retreats to her wharfside vacation apartment and finds Hank sleeping there, having kept borrowed keys that Alma had lent his sister for a past visit. Both wounded from recent events, they discuss Hank's behavior. While he acknowledges flirting with students, he again denies that he raped Maggie, or that he ever had sex with students, saying the only professional boundary he ever crossed was a past affair with Alma, who he still harbors feelings for. They share a tender kiss, which he attempts to escalate to sex, despite Alma telling him no multiple times until she shoves him and kicks him out of the apartment.

Alma returns to campus the next day, not realizing Rolling Stone has published an article in which Maggie heavily criticizes how she and Yale have handled Maggie coming forward. Alma is confronted by Alex and a group of other student protestors and collapses as her stomach ulcers perforate.

In the hospital, Alma tells Frederik the truth about her sexual assault as a teenager, which he knows few details of: she initiated a sexual relationship with Wolff, and when he ended the relationship to be with a woman his age, she fabricated a rape allegation against him that was later recanted but led to his suicide. Frederik points out that even if she feels that way what happened was statutory rape.

In an epilogue set in January 2025, Alma is now dean, having published an article about her teenage statutory rape that helped to restore her career. She gets drinks with Maggie, their first time seeing each other since the earlier events. Maggie has moved on and is happy with her life, and Alma claims that she is, too. Maggie expresses doubt that Alma is truly happy or that Alma's article was not a cynical move but concedes its irrelevance. As Alma pays and leaves, Luca Guadagnino yells "cut!" off screen.

Cast

• Julia Roberts as Alma Imhoff, a respected, well-liked professor at Yale University
• Ayo Edebiri as Margaret "Maggie" Resnick, a young philosophy student and Alma's protégée
• Andrew Garfield as Henrik "Hank" Gibson, Alma's colleague and close friend who is accused of assault
• Michael Stuhlbarg as Frederik Mendelssohn, Alma's psychiatrist husband
• Chloë Sevigny as Dr. Kim Sayers, the university's student liaison and Alma's friend
• Thaddea Graham as Katie
• David Leiber as Dean RJ Thomas
• Lío Mehiel as Alex, a law student and Maggie's partner
• Will Price as Arthur

Production

In March 2024, it was announced that Julia Roberts was set to star in the film, with Luca Guadagnino set to direct.^[8] In May, Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri joined the cast.^[9][10] Zendaya was initially set for Edebiri's role, but dropped out.^[11] Guadagnino then cast Edebiri after seeing her in Bottoms (2023).^[12] Garfield had desired to work with Guadagnino since the release of I Am Love (2009).^[13] In June, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny joined the cast.^[14][15]

Principal photography began in London and Cambridge University on July 6, 2024.^[16][17] The film shot on location there for a week before shooting the last five weeks on stage at Shepperton Studios.^[11] That same month, Lío Mehiel, Thaddea Graham, Will Price, Christine Dye, and Burgess Byrd joined the cast of the film. Filming wrapped on August 16, after six weeks of shooting.^[18] Cinematographer Malik Hassan Sayeed shot the project on 35mm film, marking his return to a feature film production after 25 years.^[19] Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composed the score.^[20]

The film had a production budget of $70–80 million, of which Roberts received $20 million.^[21] Guadagnino added a racial subtext to the script that was not present in the first draft including race swapping Edebiri's character from white to black and including a backstory in which Roberts' character had worked in Africa.^[11]

Release

The film premiered at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on August 29, 2025,^[22] followed by its North American premiere as the opening film of the 63rd New York Film Festival on September 26.^[23] It opened in limited release in the United States on October 10, before expanding to wide release on October 17.^[24][25]

It was the first film from Amazon MGM Studios to be released internationally by Sony Pictures Releasing International, following the conclusion of a three-year deal with Warner Bros. Pictures.^[26]

Reception

See also

• The Hunt, a 2012 Danish film about a man falsely accused of sexual assault against a child
• Post-assault treatment of victims of sexual assault

References

External links

• After the Hunt at IMDb