---
title: "The Hunt"
year: 2012
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-hunt"
fi1m_id: "the-hunt"
imdb_id: "tt2106476"
tmdb_id: 103663
wikidata_id: "Q32303"
fi1m_score: 82
critics_score: 76
critics_reviews: 14
published: "2026-09-15"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:11.686538+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Hunt (2012)

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg · 1h 56m · MPA R · Drama

## Identity

The Hunt

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-hunt
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-hunt
- **IMDb ID:** tt2106476
- **TMDB ID:** 103663
- **Wikidata ID:** Q32303
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2106476/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/103663, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q32303

**Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 76 from 14 reviews

*In a sentence:* Everyone knows everyone, which turns out to be no help at all

> Thomas Vinterberg’s drama about a falsely accused teacher is frightening and absorbing, with Mads Mikkelsen making the man’s distress painfully convincing. We recommend it, despite a script that keeps adding punishment after we have understood the damage.

## Synopsis

Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) works as a teacher in a small Danish town. A child makes a false accusation of abuse against him, and the allegation spreads through the community. People who know Lucas begin to treat him as a threat, placing his relationships and his place among them under pressure. The film follows the accusation’s effects on an innocent man and the adults who accept it, as Lucas faces suspicion and hostility from those around him. Thomas Vinterberg directs, with Thomas Bo Larsen as Theo and Susse Wold as Grethe.

## Review

Thomas Vinterberg’s *The Hunt* is a frightening, absorbing drama, with one substantial reservation: it presses its innocent man’s suffering harder than it needs to. Lucas, played by Mads Mikkelsen, is a teacher in a small Danish town whose life is upended by a child’s false accusation of abuse. Vinterberg and co-writer Tobias Lindholm make no mystery of his innocence. They want us watching the adults who accept the allegation, and noticing how quickly their concern for a child becomes permission to mistreat someone they know.

The early spread of suspicion is the film’s most persuasive stretch. We were horrified when the adults began treating Lucas as a danger, because knowing him appears to count for so little against the accusation. The fear is recognisable: nobody wants to be the person who failed to take a child’s allegation seriously. Vinterberg makes that fear credible enough for us to understand the rush to judgement, even as the confidence of those doing the judging becomes harder to bear.

Mikkelsen gives Lucas enough resistance to keep him from becoming merely an object of pity. His restraint conveys the effort of staying composed when other people have settled on an intolerable version of who he is. There is defiance as well as hurt in the performance, and the shifts between them hold our attention even when the script begins to repeat itself. The writing makes Lucas rather too easy to defend, but Mikkelsen makes the strain of having to defend himself feel immediate and personal.

Charlotte Bruus Christensen’s cinematography gives the performances room, and its restraint is useful in a story that could so easily become frantic. Torben Stig Nielsen’s production design makes the town feel reassuringly ordinary, which helps us believe that Lucas could have felt safe among these people. Neither contribution needs to compete with Mikkelsen for our attention, and we think that modesty is right. Nikolaj Egelund’s score also feels secondary to the discomfort the actors generate. We are already watching closely enough to be upset by small changes in how Lucas is regarded.

Editors Anne Østerud and Janus Billeskov Jansen give the allegation’s initial spread a clean, unsettling pace. Once hostility has taken hold, though, the rhythm becomes more predictable, and Vinterberg and Lindholm keep adding pressure after we have understood what it is doing to Lucas. The repetition makes us too conscious of being pushed towards the same response, with fewer new things to notice about the people involved. We remain caught up in Lucas’s predicament, but some of the later emphasis is unnecessary.

The film has much of the grip of a psychological thriller, although Vinterberg removes the usual comfort of waiting for the facts to emerge. We already understand the central injustice, and that makes the community’s certainty particularly hard to watch. His control is strongest when he trusts that situation and Mikkelsen’s response to it, without finding another way to insist that we should care. Choose it when there is time for a conversation afterwards; it is poor preparation for a peaceful night’s sleep.

*Fi1m score 82, published 15 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics regard The Hunt as a tense, distressing drama about how readily a community turns against a man falsely accused of child abuse. Praise centres on Mads Mikkelsen’s restrained performance, which makes the teacher’s distress palpable without sentimentality. The favourable reviews also credit Thomas Vinterberg’s controlled storytelling and the near-horror atmosphere of ordinary social ties collapsing into suspicion and hostility. Several find a useful streak of black humour amid the cruelty.

The disagreement is sharp: what most critics find convincing, a small minority finds contrived. The AV Club admires how the accusation takes hold but finds the subsequent persecution predictable and the protagonist too purely noble. Little White Lies sees manipulation and insufficient psychological depth, while the Evening Standard goes further, calling the treatment misogynistic and the suffering excessive despite strong acting. Reservations elsewhere concern limited visual expression and a lack of originality, rather than the drama’s emotional force.

## Straight answers

**Is The Hunt worth watching?**

*The Hunt* is worth watching for anyone who can bear a drama about a falsely accused man, and we scored it 82. Mads Mikkelsen makes Lucas's distress painfully convincing, and the early spread of suspicion through the town is frightening and absorbing. Our reservation is a script that keeps adding punishment after the damage is already clear.

**How long is The Hunt, and what is it rated?**

*The Hunt* runs 1h 56m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a drama film.

**Where can I watch The Hunt in the US?**

*The Hunt* is streaming on Amazon Prime Video, The Roku Channel and Tubi in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from $2.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is The Hunt, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Hunt* is a 15 in the UK and R in the US, and it is not suitable for children. The subject is a false accusation of child abuse, and the film's distress comes from watching a community turn on an innocent man rather than from graphic violence. Teenagers old enough for the certificate may find it upsetting, and it is poor preparation for a peaceful night's sleep.

**How does The Hunt compare to The Ox-Bow Incident?**

*The Hunt* and [*The Ox-Bow Incident*](https://film.one/film/the-ox-bow-incident) both watch a community mistake its certainty for justice, but they differ in kind. Wellman's western is short, dark and stagey, with a lynch mob whose members all sound reasonable; Vinterberg's drama is longer, more intimate and rests on Mikkelsen's restraint. The older film is the tighter of the two, though its ending is over-written; *The Hunt* is the more painful to sit through.

**What should I watch after The Hunt?**

After *The Hunt*, try [*The Ox-Bow Incident*](https://film.one/film/the-ox-bow-incident) (1943, Fi1m 84): A community mistakes its certainty for justice, with little patience for doubt. Then [*A Separation*](https://film.one/film/a-separation) (2011, Fi1m 93): An accusation tests competing loyalties, with more space for everyone’s imperfect reasoning.

### Reviews we read (21)

- **Slant Magazine**, Chuck Bowen (4/4): Vinterberg delivers a ruthlessly precise, terrifying study of how a man's place in society is revoked, operating with unflagging nightmare logic and masterly control. Mikkelsen hauntingly conveys the toll of ostracization in this black comedy about adult credulity toward children. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-hunt/)
- **Film Comment** (85/100, inferred): Vinterberg and Mikkelsen deliver a powerful drama about a false accusation destroying a man's life in a small community. The film stands out for its emotional depth and lasting impact. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/the-hunt-thomas-vinterberg-review/)
- **Empire**, David Hughes (80/100, inferred): Vinterberg returns to themes of abuse with a story of a teacher victimized by false accusations in a tight-knit community. The lead performance is quietly affecting and the drama is timely and tough. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/hunt-review/)
- **Sight and Sound**, Geoffrey Macnab (80/100, inferred): The critic praises Vinterberg's intense, well-acted black thriller about a man falsely accused of child abuse who fights back with defiance and humor. They single out Mads Mikkelsen's performance and the film's ironic tone for praise. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-hunt)
- **Time Out**, Cath Clarke (4/5): The critic calls it a nerve-shredding, timely drama about the devastating effects of false accusations in a small community, praising the lean storytelling and Mikkelsen's transformation. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-hunt)
- **Screen Daily** (75/100, inferred): The critic hails it as a confident return to form for Vinterberg, praising the intense exploration of how a community turns on one of its own and Mikkelsen's performance. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/the-hunt/5042274.article)
- **The AV Club**, Mike D'Angelo (B-): The film excels in depicting how the false accusation takes hold but becomes predictable afterward, with Mikkelsen as a pure noble victim and the town's reaction evoking Frankenstein villagers; it evokes sympathy but little else. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-hunt-1798177323)
- **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (3/2/1): The critic finds the film manipulative and cynical, criticizing its simplistic portrayal of community hysteria and lack of psychological depth despite Mikkelsen's performance. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-hunt)
- **Evening Standard**, Charlotte O'Sullivan (30/100, inferred): The film is a hysterical misogynistic soap opera that fails to rigorously explore its witch-hunt theme despite strong acting. It overdoes the abuse heaped on the protagonist and does not live up to the hype. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-hunt-cert-15-115-mins-review-8371379.html)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Betsy Sharkey: The critic describes the film as a devastating and heedful cautionary tale about the destructive power of a single lie and community panic. It praises Mikkelsen’s riveting portrayal of the besieged teacher and Vinterberg’s restraint in handling the sensitive subject. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-the-hunt-20130712-story.html)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky: The critic highlights Mads Mikkelsen’s nuanced performance as an innocent man wrongly accused, conveying his inner turmoil effectively. The film is praised for exploring themes of false guilt and community hysteria but faulted for its overly restrained, actor-focused style that limits visual expression. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-hunt-2013)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw: Vinterberg storms back to form with a gripping drama-thriller about a man wrongly accused of child abuse that has the atmospheric grip of a horror film. The critic singles out Mads Mikkelsen's outstanding lead performance and the viscerally convincing setpieces of community hostility. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/nov/29/the-hunt-review)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney: Vinterberg's most powerful film since Festen, propelled by Mads Mikkelsen’s shattering performance as the blameless man whose life is destroyed by a false allegation. The film is difficult to watch but riveting, superbly acted with credible psychological horror. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-hunt-review-mads-mikkelsen-thomas-vinterberg-326887/)
- **The New York Times**, Stephen Holden (Critic's Pick): The review calls the film a merciless examination of fear and savagery beneath bourgeois life in a small Danish town. It singles out Mikkelsen’s riveting performance as the falsely accused teacher for praise while noting the story’s nightmarish quality. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/movies/the-hunt-with-mads-mikkelsen-charts-a-towns-hysteria.html)
- **Variety**: The review finds the film absorbing in its exploration of the ripple effects of a false accusation but not particularly innovative. It notes Vinterberg’s return to Cannes with another child-abuse-themed drama that fits into recent solid Danish arthouse fare. [Read](https://variety.com/2012/film/reviews/the-hunt-1117947581/)
- **Digital Spy**, Emma Dibdin (5/5): Vinterberg's film is a subtle and terrifying gem about how quickly a community turns on an innocent man due to a child's false accusation. Mikkelsen's restrained performance anchors the drama and highlights themes of injustice and mass hysteria. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a442148/the-hunt-review-mads-mikkelsen-shines-in-witch-hunt-drama/)
- **Collider**, Phil Brown (A): The critic praises Vinterberg's gut-ripping drama about a false accusation in a small community, highlighting its thoughtful construction and lack of sentimentality. Mads Mikkelsen's performance as the innocent teacher is singled out as excellent and central to the film's power. [Read](https://collider.com/the-hunt-review/)
- **The Playlist**, The Playlist Staff (A-): The critic calls the film one of the most brilliantly unsettling and tension-laden in recent memory, an effective watch that signals a return to form for Vinterberg. Mads Mikkelsen's masterly performance is highlighted as central to the film's impact. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/review-thomas-vinterbergs-the-hunt-starring-cannes-winner-mads-mikkelsen-20130711/)
- **HeyUGuys**, Ian Gilchrist (4/5): The critic praises the film as a powerful drama about how quickly a false accusation can destroy a life and how communities turn on one of their own. Mads Mikkelsen's performance as the wrongly accused Lucas is singled out as outstanding. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-hunt-review/)
- **Eye for Film**, Owen Van Spall (75/100, inferred): The review highlights Vinterberg's effective drama about a community turning on one of its own after a false accusation, calling it an angry but well-put-together film. Mads Mikkelsen's intense performance is singled out for praise alongside the sharp cinematography. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-hunt-2012-film-review-by-owen-van-spall)
- **Paste**, Curtis Woloschuk (8.2): The critic calls it a harrowing character study that indicts human nature and rushes to judgment in a rural community, comparing it to West Memphis Three cases. Mads Mikkelsen's resilient yet devastating performance is praised as the emotional core. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/the-hunt)

## Details

- **Director:** Thomas Vinterberg
- **Director:** Thomas Vinterberg
- **Screenplay:** Thomas Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm
- **Cinematography:** Charlotte Bruus Christensen
- **Editor:** Janus Billeskov Jansen, Anne Østerud
- **Music:** Nikolaj Egelund
- **Production design:** Torben Stig Nielsen
- **Costume design:** Manon Rasmussen
- **Producer:** Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Morten Kaufmann, Thomas Vinterberg
- **Cast:** Mads Mikkelsen as Lucas; Thomas Bo Larsen as Theo; Annika Wedderkopp as Klara; Lasse Fogelstrøm as Marcus; Susse Wold as Grethe; Anne Louise Hassing as Agnes; Lars Ranthe as Bruun; Alexandra Rapaport as Nadja
- **Runtime:** 1h 56m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 12 July 2013
- **Genres:** Drama
- **Budget:** $4 million
- **Box office:** $18 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSVDnUgJVYY

## Where to watch in the US

- Amazon Prime Video: streaming
- The Roku Channel: free, hd
- Tubi: free, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $2.99, sd
- Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy $4.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $9.99, sd

*Checked 2026-09-15.*

Also available in: AR, AT, BE, BR, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, FI, FR, GB, IL, IT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 2014: Best International Feature Film (nominated)
- International Submission to the Academy Awards 2014: International Submission to the Academy Awards (nominated)
- Meeting Point Europe Award 2013: Meeting Point Europe Award (won)
- Nordic Council Film Prize 2013: Nordic Council Film Prize (won)
- European Film Award for Best Actor 2012: European Film Award for Best Actor (nominated)
- European Film Award for Best Director 2012: European Film Award for Best Director (nominated)
- European Film Award for Best Editor 2012: European Film Award for Best Editor (nominated)
- European Film Award for Best Film 2012: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated)
- European Film Award for Best Screenwriter 2012: European Film Award for Best Screenwriter (won)

## If you liked this

- *The Ox-Bow Incident* (1943), Fi1m 84: A community mistakes its certainty for justice, with little patience for doubt. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-ox-bow-incident.md)
- *The Children's Hour* (1961): Another accusation destroys trust, with the adults doing much of the damage.
- *A Separation* (2011), Fi1m 93: An accusation tests competing loyalties, with more space for everyone’s imperfect reasoning. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-separation.md)
- *Mother* (2009): A mother investigates an accusation against her son, with increasingly uncomfortable results.
- *The Teachers' Lounge* (2023): An attempt to do the right thing makes a school increasingly hostile.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-hunt