Centering on a newly hired assistant (Julia Garner) working for a major film producer, the film takes us through a day of her on the job, showing us her tasks, her experiences, and her attempts to do the work to the satisfaction of her demanding, unpleasant boss.
On one level, The Assistant is about what it is to be a young woman starting out in a job dominated by men; what it is to stick out, to be taken for granted and be treated as an object. These are important issues, but also ones that are perennially trendy and which are usually treated with bland political correctness. And had the film been just about that, it would have been an effective story about sexual harassment and the oppression of women in the work force. But what makes The Assistant a near-masterpiece is that it diverges from the pack in two major ways: The scope of the story, and the way it is told.
What writer/director Kitty Green achieves is nothing less than masterly. Green takes a seemingly simple story about a struggling young female assistant in a vicious corporate world, and turns it into a nuanced, subdued, almost Jamesian story made up of fascinating details. As we watch Julia Garner's character go about her daily tasks, we learn more and more about her, her environment, and the dilemma she's sinking into. Green, with admirable restraint, never crosses the line into preachiness or sentimentality, never loses control of the film's subtle but gripping tone, as she pulls us deeper and deeper into a story that is about much more than first meets the eye. As The Assistant is not just about the marginalization and exploitation of women in the workforce; it's also a haunting story of corruption, abuse of power, and conspiracies of silence.
And, of course, the whole film hinges on Julia Garner's performance, and it is a marvel. Garner, with very little dialogue, says much, projects much, and breaks our hearts.
Time will tell if The Assistant becomes a classic, although it should, as this is one of the boldest, most elegant psychological dramas to come out of Hollywood in years. And one which tells a tale worth telling, and tells it well. Highly recommended.
Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.
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Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of the feature film Wingrave, released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer
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