Trigger Warning: This review discusses topics of sexual assault that may be harmful for some readers.

Ask almost any film fanatic between the ages of 16 and 35, and chances are they have seen a Luca Guadagnino movie. With classics like “Call Me By Your Name” (2018), “Challengers” (2024) and “Bones and All” (2022), there is no doubt Guadagnino knows how to make a movie about compelling characters. His films feature complex topics wrapped up in gorgeous visuals that draw audiences in. 

Guadagnino’s new film “After the Hunt,” set to release Oct. 10, follows this same format.

The film follows a Yale professor named Alma, played by Julia Roberts, as she navigates the aftermath of a sexual assault allegation in her department. As one can imagine, a film of this nature is heavy and some scenes are hard to watch, compelling the audience to avert their eyes as the story evolves. 

Considering the film’s university setting, the cast, director and screenwriter shared what went into creating the film in a collegiate press roundtable on Sept. 27.

Roberts said it was difficult to play such a complicated character with so much trauma and secrets hiding beneath the surface.

“It was something that Luca and I talked about so much, the details and the performative nature of Alma as a person and as a professor, and all that posturing and what it would say or withhold,” Roberts said. “I’m just a much more wide-open, frank person, and to deal with posturing at all times is so exhausting.”

Andrew Garfield, who plays an antagonistic character, said that taking on a role so different from his previous ones was somewhat daunting.

“I relish the opportunity to jump into this with [Guadagnino] and this character, knowing that it was quite scary, personally, but I just really trust him as a filmmaker,” Garfield said.

Guadagnino depicts the story with visual complexity in his settings that tell the stories of his characters beyond the words being said. Pill bottles, clothes becoming unkempt and an increase in alcohol as the plot progresses all work together to tell the story of a woman becoming undone by the events around her. 

The cast joked about how, while most directors will film countless takes, Guadagnino keeps it short and to the point.

Garfield said Guadagnino cares deeply about being intentional, something actress Ayo Edebiri said she also notices in every aspect of the film.

“Everything, from the art that’s hanging on the walls, or a statue that there’s going to be a close-up of, to what we’re doing with our hands – it’s considered, and it’s in consideration and it’s in conversation, and there is an active thought behind it,” Edebiri said.

In terms of cinematography, the movie is quiet and incorporates muted colors and simple appearances, but the visual simplicity is contrasted by the film’s piercing score. The film is loud, with alarming music, a ticking metronome sound and rhythm filling the air between the muted scenes. The music and the metronome are used to build tension, making the audience not only see the anxiety of the characters, but feel it too. 

All of these elements masterfully come together to create a story that is tense and anxiety-inducing for the audience. The film is as much an emotional experience as it is a visual one.

Although the majority of the characters are somewhat unlikable, actor Michael Stuhlbarg said that the characters aren’t “seeking empathy.”

“Even if our characters are doing something disagreeable or that we might find disagreeable, I think the idea of loving your character tends to happen most often, unless your character that you’re playing is so repugnant that it’s a huge step out of your comfort zone,” Stuhlbarg said.

Screenwriter Nora Garrett and Guadagnino elaborated on choosing Yale as a setting, discussing its stunning, gothic architecture and how the university represents privilege, a consistent theme throughout the film.

“I think that the gothic architecture was also something that I felt was very evocative, because it’s both oppressive and lofty simultaneously,” Garrett said.

“The idea of a contained space, the small city of New Haven, and another smaller space, which is actually the campus of Yale, felt to me a great tool to tell this story, in terms of cinematic quality,” Guadagnino said.

“After the Hunt” pushes viewers to contemplate which side of the story they believe, as it slowly unravels a web of secrets, lies and deceit.