Muddy Stilettos

Director:&nbsp;Luca Guadagnino



Stars:&nbsp;Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="105" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Untitled-design-2-1-1000x105.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-112709" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Untitled-design-2-1-1000x105.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Untitled-design-2-1-600x63.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Untitled-design-2-1.jpg 1492w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-9-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17.jpg" alt="Alo Edebiri and Julia Roberts in After the Hunt" class="wp-image-121732" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-9-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-9-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-600x400.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-9-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-1000x667.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Amazon MGM Studios, photo: Yannis Drakoulidis </figcaption></figure>



There’s been plenty of buzz around Luca Guadagnino’s latest,&nbsp;After The Hunt. It’s no&nbsp;Call Me By Your Name, and yet it lingers just as long &#8211; not for a tear-streaked Timothée Chalamet sadly &#8211; but for the moral messiness it digs into. 



Penned by <a href="https://muddystilettos.co.uk/things-to-do/film-tv/nora-garrett-julia-roberts-after-the-hunt-movie/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nora Garrett</a> &#8211; her screenwriting debut, no less &#8211; and what a calling card it is with Guadagnino directing and a score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and a powerhouse cast including Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, and Chloë Sevigny. Critics can’t stop talking, and honestly, neither can I &#8211; two weeks later, it’s still haunting my thoughts.



The film opens with the stark line: “This happened at Yale…” Though not based on a true story, After the Hunt explores a familiar, troubling space where truth, memory, and power collide. It may sound like another #MeToo story, but believe me when I say it’s way more than that.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-10-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17.jpg" alt="Alo Edebiri, Julia RFoberts and Luca Guadagnino in After the Hunt" class="wp-image-121646" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-10-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-10-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-600x400.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-10-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-1000x667.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Amazon MGM Studios, photo: Yannis Drakoulidis </figcaption></figure>



Julia Roberts stars as Alma Imhoff, a brilliant, charismatic philosophy professor and huge advocate of feminist issues. She&#8217;s up for tenure and all looks rosy until her star student, Maggy (Ayo Edebiri), accuses a fellow professor &#8211; a friend and former student of Alma’s also up for tenure &#8211; Hank (Andrew Garfield), of sexual assault. As the investigation unfolds, secrets from Alma’s own past get dragged to the fore, loyalties fracture, and the moral high ground becomes a slippery place to be indeed.



You never see the assault, you just see Hank walk Maggy home after a spirited soiree at Alma&#8217;s &#8211; all highfaluting philosophical jibber-jabber. Maggy claims Hank assaulted her. Hank says she is hitting back because he accused her of plagiarism. And then there&#8217;s Alma who has reasons to both believe, and doubt, the pair of them. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="951" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-2-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-1.jpg" alt="Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield in After the Hunt" class="wp-image-122020" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-2-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-1.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-2-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-1-600x380.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-2-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-1-1000x634.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios</figcaption></figure>



Built on layers (on layers, on layers) of ambiguity with a steady philosophical undercurrent, the film left me with a headache, not from being bad (although it was about 20 minutes too long in my opinion), but from an inner argument with myself over who was telling the truth, who was at fault, who was protecting whom &#8211; and why. The inner argument I am still having as I write this!



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="988" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-3-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17.jpg" alt="Andrew Garfield and Julia Roberts in After the Hunt" class="wp-image-121653" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-3-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-3-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-600x395.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-3-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-1000x659.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios</figcaption></figure>



The cast is a major draw to this movie. Roberts is pitch-perfect as Alma &#8211; all polish and poise at first, before unravelling as she wrestles with ghosts, guilt, and pain relief as the stress plays havoc on her stomach. Garfield is suitably sleazy as Hank and it&#8217;s nice to see him in a role not so clean cut. Whether he’s guilty of the assault remains murky, but he’s clearly hiding something. As Chloë Sevigny&#8217;s sublime campus doctor Kim says, he crossed the line between a professor and student, regardless of whether anything happened.



There&#8217;s a scene where Alma confronts Hank after the alleged assault &#8211; he’s frantically denying it one second, all puppy dog you have to believe me eyes, then ordering an Indian feast the next. Seriously, would an innocent guy accused of sexual assault be that calm and up for filling his boots on onion bhajis? I think not &#8211; and that’s probably the moment where my headache started!



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-11-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17.jpg" alt="Ayo Edebiri in After the Hunt" class="wp-image-121710" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-11-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-11-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-600x400.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-11-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-1000x667.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Amazon MGM Studios, photo: Yannis Drakoulidis </figcaption></figure>



Having seen Ayo Edebiri shine in The Bear, I was initially underwhelmed by her Maggy. When she confronts Alma after the assault, I expected more raw emotion. But as the story unfolds and doubt sets in, Edebiri’s performance gains a subtle, unsettling power. She makes you question everything &#8211; Maggy’s story, motives, even her sanity as she gradually morphs into Alma, mirroring her mannerisms, hairstyle, jewellery, and fashion sense (no 20-something should dress like a Connecticut dean’s wife let&#8217;s be honest!).



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-6-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17.jpg" alt="Michael Stuhlbarg and Julia Roberts in After the Hunt" class="wp-image-121983" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-6-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-6-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-600x400.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-6-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-1000x667.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Amazon MGM Studios, photo: Yannis Drakoulidis</figcaption></figure>



A shout out has to go to the scene stealing Michael Stuhlbarg who plays Alma’s long suffering husband Freddie. He is perhaps the truest character of them all and provides the only glimmers of comedy. From his petulant loud music playing, air conducting and just by telling it how it is.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-13-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17.jpg" alt="Julia Roberts and Luca Guadagnino in After the Hunt" class="wp-image-122018" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-13-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-13-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-600x400.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-13-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-1000x667.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Amazon MGM Studios, photo: Yannis Drakoulidis</figcaption></figure>



Fans of Guadagnino will not be disappointed. After the Hunt is as luxuriously styled as all of his other movies &#8211; rich in atmosphere, with a creeping sense of dread wrapped in soft lighting and people saying terrible things in beautiful kitchens. With an equally unsettling score (a touch loud at times), the atmosphere hums with tension even when nothing’s being said &#8211; which, in this film, is often when the most is being revealed&#8230;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-1-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-1.jpg" alt="Julia Roberts in After the Hunt" class="wp-image-122021" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-1-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-1.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-1-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-1-600x400.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/After-the-Hunt-Image-1-Only-In-Cinemas-October-17-1-1000x667.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Amazon MGM Studios, photo: Yannis Drakoulidis</figcaption></figure>



Headache aside, if you like your films morally murky and conversation-starting, or you&#8217;re in the mood for an argument (husband not pick up his socks, again?), After the Hunt is absolutely worth the watch. If you&#8217;re after something comforting, or an ending that clearly tells you who is the baddie, keep walking. 



Reviewed by Claire Hool



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-in-the-mood-for-more">IN THE MOOD FOR MORE?</h2>



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FILM REVIEW: After the Hunt (15)

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