The conversation surrounding Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt has been interesting, to say the least. The movie, which focuses on a Yale student’s accusation against her male professor, reminded me of my most frustrating experience in college: Studying David Mamet’s Oleanna. But I liked After the Hunt decidedly more.
Written by Nora Garrett, we follow Maggie (Ayo Edebiri) and Alma (Julia Roberts) as they navigate the male dominated academic scene at Yale. But while the philosophy department may see them as equals, they end up in the same trappings of a patriarchal society. Men think less of them or think that they are only in their positions to fill a quota. You get it.
But the trauma at the center of After the Hunt comes after a party at Alma’s house. Maggie and Hank (Andrew Garfield) leave together with the promise that Hank is going to walk her home. Both stories say he asked for a night cap, Maggie said yes, and then that’s where the similarities stop. Hank defends his innocence, Maggie defends her truth, and Alma is stuck in the middle trying to navigate it.
It is frustrating because it is designed that way. After the Hunt isn’t trying to make this an easy story or something you can simply watch and move on from. It wants you to think and come to your own conclusions. Unlike David Mamet’s Oleanna, the most frustrating bit of theatre I had to endure during my college education.
A man’s take on this kind of story is decidedly more frustrating
I am not a fan of Mamet’s work. It is sexist, abrasive just for the hell of it, and often gives the worst kind of guy something to say. That’s what happened when we studied Oleanna in my theatre class. Yes, the play gives the audience the right to decide whether or not Carol was telling the truth about her relationship with John but it is still heavily implied one way or the other.
The film, which was directed by Mamet, makes it abduntantly clear what he believes, from my recollection. But all of it led to a man saying Oleanna was relatable to him because women lie. Luckily, I had a teacher who was willing to let the women in class then lead that discussion (or better we just yelled at that man for 10 minutes).
This interaction though did make me hate what Mamet did with Oleanna. He made it clear, in his direction of the film, what he really thought and it was damaging and gross. After the Hunt allows the audience to have a more nuanced approach to the conversation and while I do think Guadagnino does lean towards showing us that Maggie wasn’t lying, it is still up for interpretation.
Both pieces of art are conversation starters. That’s what they’re designed to do. I just think that After the Hunt allows you to have those conversations from a starting point that doesn’t lean one way or the other, as any conversation about Oleanna does.
(featured image: The Samuel Goldwyn Company/Amazon MGM Studios)
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