Julia Roberts, a name synonymous with Hollywood stardom, made a striking and overdue debut at the Venice Film Festival on August 29, 2025. For her first appearance at the storied event, Roberts arrived not just as an icon, but as the leading force in Luca Guadagnino’s latest film, After the Hunt—a movie already generating heated debate for its provocative take on sexual assault, power, and the complexity of truth.
Roberts, now 57 and still radiating the charisma that won her an Oscar for Erin Brockovich, stars as Alma Imhoff, a Yale University professor whose world is upended when her closest friend and colleague, played by Andrew Garfield, is accused of sexually assaulting a promising student, portrayed by Ayo Edebiri. The student, an African-American and Latinx woman, stands at the center of a narrative that refuses to offer easy answers—or even clear villains and heroes. Instead, After the Hunt immerses viewers in a web of ambiguity, where every character’s motives and memories are suspect, and the very notion of truth becomes slippery.
“With this film, we’re asking people to engage in the debate. Whether that excites them or angers them is up to them,” Roberts told reporters at the press conference, according to ARA. Her words echoed throughout the festival, reflecting the film’s intention to provoke conversation rather than provide closure. “It’s not so much that we’re making a statement, we’re just sharing these lives for this moment, and then want everyone to go away and talk to each other,” she added, as reported by BBC.
Indeed, After the Hunt lands at a moment when issues like #MeToo, cancel culture, the restitution of ethnic minorities in the United States, and LGBTI rights remain fiercely contested in public discourse. The film, presented out of competition at Venice and set for release in Catalan theaters on October 17 under the title Witch Hunt, doesn’t shy away from these hot-button topics. Instead, it dives into them headfirst, fueled by a script from first-time screenwriter Nora Garrett, who blends sharp dialogue with a willingness to let uncertainty linger.
Roberts, reflecting on the film’s approach, remarked, “There’s a lot of old arguments that get rejuvenated in this movie in a way that does create conversation.” She acknowledged that the film is likely to divide audiences, especially given its refusal to present either the student’s or the accused professor’s version of events as entirely credible. “Everyone comes out with these different feelings, emotions and points of view. And you realise what you believe in strongly and what your convictions are, because we stir it all up for you,” she said, responding to journalists who questioned the film’s moral stance after a press screening.
Director Luca Guadagnino, known for acclaimed works like Call Me by Your Name and Challengers, built the film’s suspense with deliberate nods to cinematic history. The opening credits mirror those of Woody Allen’s films—a choice Guadagnino explained as both a tribute and a commentary. “When we started thinking about this film, our minds went to Crimes and Misdemeanors, Another Woman or even Hannah and Her Sisters,” he told the press, referencing Allen’s explorations of moral ambiguity. Guadagnino didn’t shy away from the controversy surrounding Allen, noting, “I felt it was also interesting to make a reference to an artist who, in a certain sense, has faced problems related to his person. And I also wanted to allude to our responsibility when looking at the work of an artist we love, like Woody Allen.”
Beyond Allen, Guadagnino’s cinephile instincts shine through with a subtle homage to Pedro Almodóvar’s The Flower of My Secret, the poster of which appears in a pivotal scene. These references underscore the film’s fascination with secrets, hidden motives, and the way personal histories shape the present.
The cast, too, brings depth and nuance to the thorny material. Ayo Edebiri, best known for her role in the TV series The Bear, described the experience as “rich complicatedness in all the characters, and that’s just the dream.” She relished the challenge of a story where “maybe the vantage point I had at the beginning is completely different at the end.”
Andrew Garfield, whose previous roles include Spider-Man and Oscar-nominated turns in Hacksaw Ridge and Tick Tick Boom!, was drawn to the flawed, unreliable nature of the characters. “I feel like, when our motivations are invisible, even to ourselves, all of us are unreliable narrators,” he explained. “Especially in a culture where a perception of survival is paramount. And as we all know, human beings will behave animalistically when we are put in a position where we believe it is life or death.”
Guadagnino echoed this sentiment, observing, “I think it’s always interesting to see what we carry without knowing we carry it within ourselves. And to see that happening in the confrontation between characters, it’s fascinating. I think even the lies people tell the truth.”
For Roberts, the opportunity to play a woman grappling with inner conflict was irresistible. “Trouble is where the juicy stuff is, right?” she quipped. “It’s all that great complexity. It’s like dominoes of conflict, once one falls, everywhere you turn there’s some new piece of conflict and challenge, and that’s what makes it worth getting up and going to work in the morning.”
Critical response to After the Hunt has been sharply divided. While Roberts’ performance has been widely praised—The Telegraph hailed it as “her best performance in years,” and The Times even predicted an Oscar win—many reviewers took issue with the film’s handling of its themes. Screen Daily’s Nikki Baughan wrote that the film “puts itself well before any real and valuable discussion of these deeply complex issues.” The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney commented, “The stance it takes on its messaging is troubling,” and suggested the film’s provocations felt dated. IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzino acknowledged Guadagnino’s skill but argued the film “strives for moral ambiguity, but ends up startlingly morally stark.”
Roberts, however, sees the film’s ambiguity as its greatest strength. “That to me is the most exciting bit, because we’re kind of losing the art of conversation in humanity right now, and if making this movie does everything, getting everybody to talk to each other is the most exciting thing we could accomplish,” she told BBC. It’s a sentiment that feels both urgent and nostalgic in an era of polarized discourse and fleeting attention spans.
As After the Hunt prepares for its wider release, it stands as a cinematic provocation—one that refuses to resolve the very debates it ignites. Whether audiences leave the theater excited, infuriated, or simply unsettled, the film’s creators seem to welcome all responses, so long as the conversation continues.
