Yale University, present day. Alma Olsson is a star of the academic world — a philosophy professor and champion of feminism adored by her students. Among them is Maggie, the daughter of prominent university donors. Frederik Olsson, Alma’s psychiatrist husband, feels she accepts the admiration she receives without sufficient scrutiny. Gradually, the ties between faculty and students grow increasingly entangled. When the behaviour of Alma’s close colleague and its repercussions come to light, she is forced to reexamine her ideals and her own past.

Guadagnino is a chameleon of contemporary filmmaking, able to confidently manoeuvre between European arthouse swims, Hollywood tennis affairs and remakes of cinematic classics. This post-truth drama was screened at the Venice Film Festival. Set against the backdrop of elite parties, with Foucault’s philosophy recited like verse and featuring a dazzling cast — Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri (The Bear series), Andrew Garfield and Michael Stuhlbarg — the film offers a meditation on boundary-crossing and modern-day ‘witch hunts’. The film provokes, pushing so far that the very notion of human autonomy and our tendency to treat our expectations as reality are questioned at their core. An intimate story, never brought up publicly, yet gladly shared at parties over a glass of chilled champagne — while Guadagnino cracks a smile.