By skyforbes 
The trailer begins in a fancy house party. The walls of the house are oak, or walnut, or something. It looks like a library. A relaxed Alma Imhoff (Julia Roberts) sat on a coffee table holding a glass of wine.
Hank Gibson (Andrew Garfield) sat on the couch with his knees up. Very relaxed.
Everyone wore suits and blazers.
“All your generation, your scared of saying the wrong thing,” Hank told everyone.
That’s weird. I still consider Andrew Garfield a ‘young actor’. He is 42 in 2025. In the movie, he also has a full-on beard. Maybe they are presenting him as an older person.
“When did offending someone became the preeminent cardinal sin?” he asked.
Hank is talking to younger students. They look like Gen Z or Millennials.
Margaret (Ayo Edebiri) responded, “Maybe it’s around the same time you’re generation made sweeping generalizations about ours.”
Around the ‘circle’, you also see Dr. Kim Sayers (Chloe Sevigny) and Frederik Mendel (Michael Stuhlbarg). Julia Roberts, Chloe Sevigny, and Frederik Mendel are all in their 50s. Andrew Garfield is in his early 40s and still a millennial. It doesn’t fit him lecturing the ‘younger generation’ (just an opinion). Anyway, back to the trailer.
“Whatever shame you have around self-expression,” Hank continued, “it is…(he whispered) bullsh*t.”
Alma smirked, “Bullsh*t.”
Frederik smiled and nodded.
It cuts to Frederik waking up Alma in the morning. They are married.
“You tend to choose people because they worship you,” Frederik told Alma, “not because of actual merit on their part.”
It cuts back to the party in a separate room. Alma still drank wine, and Frederik sat in front of him.
“Maggie is brilliant,” Alma told him.
“Is she?” Frederik asked. “Or does she just think your brilliant.”
Alma smiled and shrugged.
It cuts to class. I think it’s a post-graduate class. Master’s degree or something. Maggie is a student in Alma’s class.
It cuts to inside Alma’s kitchen. Hank kissed her on the lips.
“Hank’s continued obsession,” Frederik told Alma.
“We’re friends,” Alma said. “Always will be.”
So maybe Alma is narcissistic or egotistic. She surrounds herself with people who worship her or feed her ego. Do you know anyone like that?
This also seems to be about generational differences. The older generation thinks that younger people are both too sensitive and extra-cautious not to offend others. Younger people think that older people are too judgmental and tactless. Offending others is not an issue for them.
It cuts to Alma and Hank laughing at a bar during day time.
“Did you talk to Maggie today?” Hank asked.
“No,” Alma responded. “She wasn’t in class. No call. No show.”
It cuts to Alma entering her house. It’s Maggie. She squatted right beside her door. She looks like a mess. What happened?
“I need to speak with you,” Maggie told her.
They went inside and sat on a staircase.
Maggie spoke, her voice shaking, “Hank walked me home. He asked for a nightcap. Which, you know, it’s fine. He’s…Hank. Everybody loves Hank. Uhm…”
Alma stared at her for a second too long, “What are you saying happened?”
Maggie stared at her, “He…crossed the line.” Maggie tried to hold Alma’s hands.
“What actually happened?” Alma asked.
It cuts to Maggie getting inside her bathroom. She picked up a piece of paper taped under the sink. I can’t figure out what it is. Was it a recording device to implicate Hank?
Back to Alma and Maggie’s conversation on the staircase. “It’s the right thing to do, isn’t it?” Maggie told Alma. “To tell someone. And, you know, given your history…”
“What does that mean? My history?” Alma asked.
So maybe Alma was s*xually abused, maybe even r*ped in the past. Maggie feels like she’s doing the right thing. If she had the same experience, she would have to tell someone. And who better to share it with than someone who’s been through the same nightmare?
It cuts to Alma and Hank at a diner. “So, are you gonna tell me why this is not true?” she asked Hank.
“Maggie cheated,” Hank said. “I told her that I suspected she plagiarized. The next day, utter fabrication.”
This is interesting. Hank is alleging that Maggie fabricated everything because he caught her plagiarizing. So you, yes YOU, who do you believe? Hank or Maggie? I think that is the core mystery of this movie.
It cuts to Alma and Dr. Kim Sayers at a bar. “These kids would have everything handed to them in their lives,” Dr. Kim said. “It’s just that the world stopped. But the first slip of victimization…”
It cuts to Maggie and Alma hugging at a park. I love this because YOU CAN’T TRUST ANYONE. Maggie and Hank have allegations against each other. But who is lying? What if they are both correct? What if Maggie plagiarized and Hank also took advantage of her? It’s all possible. And as with every human being, Alma and Dr. Kim’s judgment is clouded by their own biases.
It cuts to Alma and Maggie talking in, I presume, Maggie’s room. “It’s just amazing to me that a young Black Woman can get assaulted by these white people and figure out a way to make it about themselves.”
It cuts to Hank pulling Alma out of her classroom. “You know the truth and you won’t say it,” Hank told Alma. “Because it will make you look bad.”
Alma turned around. You then see all her students, including Maggie, staring at them.
Maggie walked out of the room and into the hugging arms of Dr. Kim. Things like this make me suspicious of Maggie. Earlier, she tried to hold Alma’s hands when she told her about Hank. And now, Dr. Kim has a full hug on her. She might actually be a victim of abuse. But she might also be buttering them up to get sympathy.
It cuts to a large boardroom meeting of the entire faculty. Maybe the Hank-Maggie situation became a very big deal that the entire university had to make a decision about it.
It cuts to Alma and Dr. Kim back drinking in a bar.
“You should be ready,” Dr. Kim told Alma.
“Ready for what?” Alma asked.
“Backlash, potentially,” Dr. Kim told her.
It cuts to Alma confronting Maggie outside class. “I know you have feelings for me,” Alma told Maggie.
“Am I not owed this?” Maggie asked. She is smiling. “This happened to me.”
It cuts to inside Alma’s kitchen. “I am a desperate man,” Hank raised his voice. “I’m absolutely DESPERATE!”
It cuts to Frederik and Alma in a dark office. “Were too married to lie to each other so blatantly.”
It cuts back to the bar with Alma and Dr. Kim drinking. “I believe her, but, whatever happened to stuffing everything down like the rest of us?”
I don’t like that.
It cuts to inside Alma’s house. “Did you know anything about this?” her husband asked.
It cuts to Alma having a panic attack at the office and in her car. “I’ve worked too hard, done too much, to get here, to let it all be taken away. Nothing I would have done to could have changed what happened.”
It cuts back to inside Alma’s kitchen.
“You don’t know that,” Hank raised his voice. He slammed a wooden chair, almost breaking it on Alma’s floor.
“You don’t know that!” Hank shouted.
It cuts to a frantic Alma in her office. The phone rings. She threw the phone across the room.
It cuts to students fighting outside campus. “All we want is accountability,” one female student told Alma.
It cuts back to campus. Outdoors. Maggie and Alma are talking. Maggie looked away and then looked back at Alma, “I don’t feel comfortable having this conversation with you anymore,” Maggie told Alma.
Alma smiled and looked away. She stepped forward and faced Maggie. She whispered, “Not everything is supposed to make you comfortable.”
This is a divisive movie. But I am intrigued to know the truth.
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