Every Song in After the Hunt: The Julia Roberts Prime Video Soundtrack, Track by Track
From the director of Call Me By Your Name and Challengers comes After the Hunt, with Julia Roberts leading Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, and Michael Stuhlbarg in a taut Yale-set drama where philosophy professor Alma’s twisted ties to colleague Hank and protégé Maggie teeter on the brink—until an unexpected turn upends everything.
Luca Guadagnino is back with After the Hunt, a chilly academic thriller where big brains go to war and the soundtrack does half the arguing for them. Julia Roberts leads the film as Alma, a Yale philosophy star whose life gets tangled up with her colleague Hank (Andrew Garfield) and her standout student Maggie (Ayo Edebiri). Michael Stuhlbarg plays Alma's husband, Frederik. Things spiral after a night no one can agree on, and Alma winds up right in the blast zone.
The gist
If you watched Call Me by Your Name and Challengers, you know Guadagnino loves vibe as much as plot. Here, he stacks the soundtrack with bold, sometimes prickly choices: John Adams' operatic thunder, Ambitious Lovers' art-pop, a late-career gut-punch from Everything But the Girl, and avant-garde riptides from Julius Eastman and Ligeti. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross lace it all together with a restrained piano-led score that keeps poking at one question: who are we supposed to believe?
"They brought me these extraordinary piano notes that underline the question of do we believe this person or not. This theme of doubt starts up in the first scene and keeps expanding."
- Luca Guadagnino
Every song and where it lands
- A Child Is Born - Tony Bennett & Bill Evans
The 1977 Bennett-Evans ballad floats over the opening credits, easing us into Alma Imhoff (Julia Roberts), Maggie Resnick (Ayo Edebiri), and Hank. It carries into a dinner party at Alma and her husband Frederik's (Michael Stuhlbarg) place, where polite academic chatter quietly hints that this house has secrets. - Let's Walk - Mark Harelik, Victoria Clark & Adam Guettel
From The Light in the Piazza. After the guests leave, Alma and Frederik drop the host smiles. He shrugs off Hank and Maggie as forgettable and implies Alma only entertains them because they idolize her. Alma pushes back: Hank is a real friend, Maggie has real talent. Translation: the relationships are messier than they look. - Piano Concerto, II. Lento e deserto - Gyorgy Ligeti & Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Ligeti's hollow chill underscores one of the film's hardest scenes: Maggie tells Alma that after the dinner Hank walked her home, came into her apartment, and assaulted her. Alma recoils, questioning why Maggie told her at all. The same cue returns when Maggie pores over a German newspaper clipping she swiped from Alma's guest bathroom, translating it bit by bit to figure out what Alma has been hiding. - After the Hunt, One - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Reznor & Ross lay that low, suspicious pulse beneath a tense restaurant sit-down. Hank calmly denies forcing himself on Maggie, then pivots to say he caught her plagiarizing her dissertation. He finally admits he went back to her apartment that night but claims she was the one making a move and that he was there to confront her about the plagiarism. The score keeps pressing the doubt button. - Break With - Ryuichi Sakamoto
Off Sakamoto's 2004 album Chasm. At a university event, Maggie tells Alma she plans to press charges and asks for her support. Alma goes practical: did you get a DNA test? Maggie says she turned away because a pack of boys was lingering outside the clinic. When Maggie asks again for help, Alma hesitates, saying she might hurt the case since she saw Maggie walking with Hank that night. - Evil Ni**er - Julius Eastman, Frank Ferko, Janet Kattas & Patricia Martin
Eastman's ferocious minimalist swell scores Hank storming into Alma's class after he's been fired. He rants at Maggie, blames Alma, and comes apart in front of everyone. Maggie flees in tears; Alma chases her into the hall and finally shows up for her. The piece makes the whole sequence throb. - Satta Massagana - The Abyssinians
Alma quietly pulls an envelope from the bathroom cupboard, removes an old photograph and other tucked-away items, and burns them without a flinch. The song's grounded calm makes the choice feel disturbingly serene. - L'incontro - Piero Ciampi
While Alma and Frederik wait for Maggie to arrive for dinner, Ciampi's bittersweet drift settles in. Frederik suggests eating without her; Alma insists on waiting. The whole room feels like it's bracing for impact. - E Preciso Perdoar - Ambitious Lovers
A Brazilian-leaning art-pop cut from the duo's 1984 album Enchanting, blaring from the next room because Frederik cranks it. As it bleeds in, Maggie tells Alma a reporter has reached out; she wants to tell her story. Alma urges her not to go public and not to press charges, warning it could backfire. Maggie refuses to be silenced. - Solea - Miles Davis
From Sketches of Spain (1960). Alone in her office, Alma endures a barrage of calls from Hank until she finally snaps and throws her phone. The track simmers exactly like her patience. - Terrible Love - The National, and Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - The Smiths
Back-to-back at a neon-lit club where Alma drinks with Dr. Kim (Chloe Sevigny). Kim mentions that Maggie told her she confided in a professor who did not help. Alma bristles, firing back about a therapist casually leaking patient details. The social mask slips. - The Death of Klinghoffer, Act II: Desert Chorus - John Adams (Kent Nagano, Opera de Lyon & London Opera Chorus)
A painfully strained morning: Frederik makes breakfast, Alma sits miles away. He tries to fix things with intimacy; she stops him. He admits his fear that she does not want him because he is not Hank. She does not deny it. The silence lands like a verdict. - City Noir: III. Boulevard Night - John Adams (St. Louis Symphony & David Robertson)
Noir sheen, big bite. After Alma is caught forging a prescription and her tenure is frozen, she storms into Maggie's campus office and detonates: accuses Maggie of plagiarism, mocks her for mirroring Alma's mannerisms, calls her privileged and her relationship with Alex performative, and claims no one believes her about Hank. Maggie slaps her. - Ligia - Antonio Carlos Jobim
Years later, Alma and Maggie meet at a cafe. It's courteous, surface-level, and loaded with everything unsaid. The bossa nova ache fits the polite distance. - Nothing Left to Lose - Everything but the Girl
From the duo's 2023 comeback album Fuse. The movie cuts to black and this rolls over the end credits like one last exhale. Not filler; a final emotional hit. - It's Gonna Rain - Ambitious Lovers
Also on the film's playlist. It is referenced in the official track stack even though the scene placement is not spelled out here. - The Death of Klinghoffer, Act II: "It is as if our earthly life were spent miserably" - John Adams (Kent Nagano, Opera de Lyon & London Opera Chorus)
Another cut from Adams' opera appears in the film in addition to Desert Chorus. The specific scene is not detailed in the production notes here, but it is part of the same imposing sound world the movie leans on.
Why this lineup works
The musical choices are sharp and occasionally thorny, mirroring the ethical fog Alma swims in. Eastman and Ligeti bring the dread. Adams supplies moral weight. Ambitious Lovers and Jobim lend a deceptively smooth veneer that cracks under pressure. And Reznor & Ross' pianos keep whispering doubt underneath every conversation. If you felt the Everything But the Girl closer in your ribs, that is the point.
If you want the full official cue list beyond what is covered here, check the movie's soundtrack release. After the Hunt is now streaming on Prime Video. Seen it yet? Tell me what you thought.