Does ‘The Assessment’ shock? Oh, baby does it!
If you thought China’s draconian “one-child policy” was the most extreme example of government intrusion into family planning, you’ve got another thing coming. That would be “The Assessment,” a trippy, post-apocalyptic mind-bender that imagines a world in which you can’t have a baby until you’ve aced a rigorous test in which a rigid civil servant comes to live with you 24/7 to determine your fitness as prospective parents.
This one-week, pass-fail appraisal is a trial in every sense of the word, especially when the assessor is Alicia Vikander’s Virginia, a no-nonsense, rule-bound automaton with the social skills of an aloof kitty cat. When she arrives on the doorstep of biologists Mia (Elizabeth Olsen) and Aaryan (Himesh Patel) her iciness chills your blood. So, imagine the effect she has on Mia and Aaryan once they realize their “best behavior” isn’t going to come close to appeasing their obstinate guest.
Patel and Olsen imbue their characters with the exact amount of hidden contempt and an irrepressible eagerness to please, as Virginia peppers the couple with deeply personal questions. Their tone is almost apologetic at times, particularly when Virginia begins probing Mia about her radical mother who was recently exiled into “the outside world” for daring to challenge the state’s dystopian policies. Little do Mia and Aaryan realize Virginia is just getting started.
By the time the week is up, the pair will be at each other’s throats to the degree that one or both will be eager to join Mia’s mom outside the clean-air bubble they’ve been privileged to occupy ever since an unexplained environmental disaster left the earth all but uninhabitable. What could Virginia possibly do to induce Mia and Aaryan to risk certain death over life in their coastal hideaway, free to work on their government-approved research projects? I’ll leave that for you to find out. Just know it involves Virginia getting fully in touch with her inner child.
Vikander, dressed in neo-Puritan garb, has a ball in the role of righteous homewrecker, growing ever more outrageous as the movie progresses. There’s nothing her Virginia won’t do in a process designed to break Mia and/or Aaryan under the pressure. After all, if the two can’t handle Virginia and her weird machinations, how will they ever be able to contend with a child?
It’s a query director Fleur Fortune and her three writers have fun toying with while exploring the profound effect childrearing has on marriage: the jealousy; the self-sacrifice; and the challenge to one’s patience, as Virginia endeavors to gauge the point at which the people she’s observing turn violent. When that moment is reached, it startles you and shocks Mia and Aaryan even more. They just aren’t the type of people who would strike a child. Or, are they?
In that sense, “The Assessment” works best as an existential exercise in discovering the stage where you stop being yourself and start devolving into your child’s whiny little bitch. It’s fascinating, but where Fortune errs is in belaboring her message. Eventually, repetitiveness sets in. Nearly two hours of this is as indulgent as Vikander’s funny, disturbing performance. Enough, already!
I would have preferred less of her and more intel on what led us to this debasement of humankind. What authority decides who and why some earn their place inside the bubble and others do not? What is life like outside the temperature-controlled environment Mia and Aaryan enjoy? And what’s Virginia’s deal? How did she migrate toward this line of work? Is she a sexual predator in disguise? These are all intriguing questions that Fortune and her writers for the most part avoid addressing.
Lucky for her, she’s assembled a cast that holds you in their grip. While Vikander is afforded most of the flash, it’s Olsen who personifies the last vestiges of humanity in a futuristic world where the government is literally in your bedroom, observing your lovemaking and then essentially rating your performance. Yes, it’s darkly humorous at times, but it’s also more than a little bit frightening. Just think about it. Could any of us measure up in such a scenario? And is being a parent worth this level of degradation? You might be horrified by the answer.
Movie review
The Assessment
Rated: R for sexual content, brief nudity, sexual assault, language, suicide
Cast: Elizabeth Olsen, Alicia Vikander, Himesh Patel and Minnie Driver
Director: Fleur Fortune
Writers: John Donnelly, Nell Garfath Cox and Dave Thomas
Runtime: 114 minutes
Where: In theaters March 21 (limited)
Grade: B
