A review of the new film “After The Hunt”
I so wanted to enjoy this film, since the lead role is taken by Julia Roberts, an actress I admire, and the subject matter – an allegation of sexual abuse made by a black student against a white lecturer – promised drama and topicality. But I was really disappointed. The acting is fine, with Roberts in excellent form, and the dialogue from debut screenwriter Nora Garrett – when one can hear it – is challenging enough (although there is a bit too much philosophising), but the failure of the work to succeed is down to the Italian producer and director Luca Guadagnino.
It is often difficult to catch what the characters are saying because of the loudness of the diegetic sound or the imposition of non-diegetic sound. What we can surmise from the movie is then rather problematic politically, since it appears to to challenge the current recognition that offence should be seen primarily from the point of view of the ‘victim’ rather than that of the apparent perpetrator. So, both artistically and morally, a somewhat confused and unsatisfactory work.