The press have been digging up old interviews with GOP Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance in which he suggests there should be a dividing line in society between those who have children, perhaps even giving those parents more than one vote, and those who don’t by suggesting they should be lesser in society. That sounded like political absurdity to me, and then I saw The Assessment.
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Supposedly in the near future this “sci-fi” premise creates a world in which prospective parents must pass an initial test in order to prove their basic worth for having a child, and then endure a seven-day live-in visit from a facilitator known as the assessor who will put them through the ringer in all kinds of imaginable and unimaginable situations where at the end they will either get a passing grade — or not. Sounds like the ideal job for Vance should he decide to switch careers.
In the case of French director Fleur Fortune’s feature debut, it is Alicia Vikander as Virginia, the cold-as-ice, all-business assessor who wears a uniform of sorts and has her hair tightly wound in a bun to indicate this is a woman who will not be messed with. She knocks on the door of the very sterile-looking modernistic home of Mia (Elizabeth Olsen) and Aaryan (Himesh Patel), a couple very much hoping to build a family and pass the government’s muster that they would be appropriate parents. At first it seems like a normal kind of interview, but as the days go by Virginia, channeling her inner improvisational actor, starts being essentially a bratty 2-year-old even though this is a grown woman playing this all out and clearly testing the patience of our auditioning couple. Will they be able to cope with this as the Virginia show grows more and more intense as the week progresses? And that includes a dinner party in which guests are invited so she can observe how they might handle a child in such a situation.
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It gets a little complicated when one of the guests arrives with her husband and child, who turns out had passed the test in order to become parents, and also had a past as it were with Aaryan. Shockeroo. Mia had no idea that her husband had actually gone through this process before with another woman who explains it was a very long time ago and they never made it through the initial survey. Nevertheless, the fissures are beginning to show and the marriage is starting to crack under this intense pressure as Aaryan is on defense. It gets more dicey when Mia urgently needs to leave for family business, getting reluctant permission from Virginia for a 24-hour absence. During that time the assessor, uh, assesses other aspects of Aaryan than his parental prowess. She obviously has her own reasons for tempting the flesh. This is all careening out of control, but there are things we don’t yet know about Virginia and that is part of the mystery in a movie that ping-pongs from dark comedy to heavy drama.
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Almost the entire film, or at least the vast majority of it, takes place on this single set in this house, making me think the idea could actually been an intriguing stage play too; as it is, it does feel a bit claustrophobic, and somewhat repetitive as the various Virginia games continue. Nevertheless, it is dramatically compelling, especially since in our f*cked-up world today the implausible is suddenly becoming the plausible, and with government interference involving what women can — and can’t — do with their own bodies becoming the law in many states, who is to say a frightening future administration just might take us all down the rabbit hole?
Give props to Vikander for taking the risk on a role that is wacko-scary to pull off. She is such an accomplished and always interesting actor that you go with her on this journey as she actually creates a three-dimensional woman before the end credits roll. Her confrontation with Olsen is well written and performed and makes the craziness (even with a primate on hand) that has come before somehow make sense. Olsen again is proving she is one of the best out there, and here makes her desire to be a mother poignant and frustrating. Patel is perfect as the “future” dad who is beating down the difficult relationship he had with his own parents, and proves vulnerable at all the wrong moments. Minnie Driver is among the dinner guests who show, and she makes her brief screen time count.
Producers are Stephen Woolley, Elizabeth Karlsen, Shivani Rawat, Julie Goldstein, Jonas Katzenstein, Maximilian Leo and Grant S. Johnson.
Title: The Assessment
Festival: Toronto (Special Presentations)
Director: Fleur Fortune
Screenwriters: Mr. And Mrs. Thomas, John Donnelly
Cast: Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Olsen, Himesh Patel, Minnie Driver, Indira Varria, Nicholas Pinnock, Charlotte Richie, Leah Harvey
Sales agent: UTA
Running time: 1 hr 54 mins
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