"The Assistant" is a subtle and suggestive film about everything and nothing
Director Kitty Green takes us inside a very long day at a NYC film production office and examines what it means to be complicit in a post Me Too film that quietly says something if you're patient.
The Assistant is streaming on Max and Hulu.
Grade: B (Fine acting, Slow moving, Methodical Attention to Detail, Shines a light on an understated profession, Gender and power dynamic themes)
When Ozark alum Julia Garner (Jane) walks into a scene in The Assistant, you submit fully to her character, watching her every move and wondering when the tension will reach its breaking point. She’s arresting. At first glance, she’s demure and has an air of someone hyper vigilant and much older than her years.
She walks through the office where she’s an assistant in equal parts assured confidence and sunken shoulders as if to say, “This is what I’ve worked so hard for?” Her staid mug doing the talking. She’s no nonsense and if she were an object, she’d be a Swiss watch, finely set to precision. She sees everything even the things she’s not meant to and yet she keeps it all to herself, distrusting her environment (and rightfully so) and telling herself this is the crap she has to endure to make it in the film industry. Keep your head down and do as you’re told.
The entire film takes place in one day. Throughout the day in her interactions with the males in her office, she experiences false and fleeting camaraderie with the other assistants (one even goes so far as to set her up to get in trouble) but they always show up to hover over her chair behind her when she has to write an apology email to the boss to dictate how it gets done “right” In the case of the more senior partners, they tell her a few times how “smart” she is but in reference to what actual evidence?
Her worth is assessed by how well she tidies up her boss’ office, gets him his protein shake delivered at a certain time, orders the right salad, and understands all the binders she has to reference to do the logistics of running his schedule. And being “smart” is weaponized here to feed Jane’s crippling sense of self as a non-sexualized female at a predominantly male powered studio where women are seen primarily as sex objects or barely seen (Dagmara Dominczyk). And yet, what’s the alternative? When the other senior exec in the office, Wilcock (Matthew Macfayden) tells her, “Don’t worry. You’re not his type” as a way to assuage her growing concerns of the sexual crimes taking place at the hands of her boss, it’s both an acknowledgement of his complicity and a condemnation of her worth in an office where per the line above, women don’t have agency.
A Commentary of its Time, Context Bound
The Assistant came out a few years after the Me Too movement was at its peak - after the painful allegations of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assaults came to light and just short of when he was convicted in 2020; in the midst of learning about the depravity of the sex cult, NXIVM, marketed as “executive success” which saw founder, Keith Raniere, earn a 120-year sentence for his crimes, and all of us glued to our TVs as our CW sweetheart, Allison Mack, would no longer primarily be known for her onscreen role playing sweet Chloe Sullivan in Smallwood, but as the criminal who assisted Raniere in his human trafficking and assaults.
This film carries just enough distance from these events and yet proximity, that you know what it’s about. At the beginning of the movie as you watch Jane get picked up at an ungodly hour from a car service in what appears to be a lower income neighborhood, only to be shuttled for the next hour or so to a swank Tribeca looking loft building, you start to form some assumptions about who she is. She’s likely a dedicated, hard-working individual who is trying her best to maintain order and pretend that getting all the details right will afford her a one way trip out of hell. Spoiler: It won’t.
In an excellent interview with Senior Vox Film Critic, Alissa Wilkinson, Green speaks about the gendered systems inherent in the film industry that influenced her creative decisions in The Assistant:
Both film and other fields have very gendered systems, where you see your male colleagues promoted before you. You see them getting opportunities that you’re not getting. There’s a gendered division of labor, so they are given tasks that you’re not given.
There were lots of stories of going to HR and feeling completely unsupported, or stripped of any kind of self-worth upon leaving, because HR exists to protect the company and not the employees. Those are the kind of stories that I was getting again and again. We were focused on how the larger systems sideline women in particular.
Director Kitty Green is no stranger to documentaries or sensationalized docudramas, but The Assistant (2019) is the first film to get her work widely recognized, especially in the critics’ circles and at film festivals. Her prior films include Casting JonBenet and The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul. Making the film Casting JonBenet had her relocating to Boulder, Colorado for a year (where the Ramseys were from) to confront the society that gave birth to the tragedy of JonBenet in an oddly creative way. [Link here] Also, a random aside - JonBenet Ramsey would be 33 years old now. I find that fascinating given that she will remain a child in our consciousness.
There’s no doubt that “the boss” (deliberately unnamed and unseen) in The Assistant is a criminal and one who exhibits onto his subordinates very psychologically abusive behaviors. That’s not the point of the film, though. What the movie is mostly saying is look at all the people who begrudgingly put up with it, accept it and make excuses for it, all the while miring themselves deeper in the detritus. (Credit: Stephen Fry’s The Morning Show character for the word of the week)
Jane is our viewfinder in that she lets us into this world of complicity and systemic dysfunction, but to what end? If you’re looking for catharsis in the form of the bad guy getting his due, then this film isn’t for you. If you are however willing to examine more deeply the systems that create monsters, and amenable to sitting through the monotony of the very dull tasks of a lowly, “smart” assistant waiting on some retributive action or justice that may or may not occur, then this may be the thing for you.
I found myself comparing this film to the 2022 film, She Said, about the two NY Times reporters trying to get Weinstein’s victims to speak out about the abuse in Hollywood. Very different in their approach, but both saying something about the corruption of the gendered systems, how difficult it is for victims of sexual assault to be taken seriously and what that cost looks like. The Succession Tom Wambsgans actor scene in The Assistant is so creepy and vile because you watch how he slowly pulls the thread on Jane’s confidence which leaves her a shell of her former self. His insidious form of gaslighting and telling her again, to show gratitude for the job she was given and laying into into her about how they passed up on 400 other Ivy League candidates, reminded me of The Morning Show S3E3 showdown between Chris and Cybil.
I know you’ll have some words to say here. Let it rip, pls.
Source: Vox / Matthew MacFayden aka Tom Wambsgans feigns ally-ship but is really looking out for #1 One of the primary drivers for me to watch this film was the buzz around director Kitty Green’s new film, which was screened at TIFF (which is on my bucket list of festivals to attend and I’m pulling for 2025), called The Royal Hotel, also with Julia Garner, and this time taking place in Green’s native Australia. What do you think?
What’s Releasing this Week That I’m Looking Forward To
In a recent BEVP post,
writer and TV and film enthusiast recommended the Roald Dahl story brought to cinematic life by acclaimed director Wes Andersen, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.To hear more about this movie and also to see my other recommendations, please consider signing up for a paid membership. I will use this money to feed myself and my loved ones and make more content. I promise.
Description: A beloved Roald Dahl story about a rich man who learns about a guru who can see without using his eyes and then sets out to master the skill in order to cheat at gambling.
Release Date: 9/25 (Today!)
Sex Education, Season 4 (The Final Season)
Out now on Netflix as of last week.
Verdict: 1 episode in and I’m missing season 1. I also kinda even miss Moordale Secondary School. It was an honest sh*tshow. Then again, I think this is valiant attempt to create a “Barbie Land” universe/upside down world where freaks and geeks rule. Well, not geeks, but what society previously deemed as the non-cool kids who are now in power and flexing that agency. Give me a reason to keep watching, pls…
Who Killed Jill Dando (Documentary)
Description: Revisit the shocking 1999 murder of beloved TV presenter Jill Dando, which continues to mystify experts and the public, in this in-depth documentary.
I saw the trailer and I’m hooked. It’s like E! True Hollywood Stories all over again.
Release Date: 9/26 (It’s out!)
As if there weren’t enough film and TV showcasing horrific crimes against women being highlighted in this post, I’m somewhat intrigued by the trailer of Nowhere coming out on September 29th but I should also add that I’m somewhat horrified too. Premise: A pregnant woman gets stuck in the middle of the ocean in a shipping container.
Starstruck (Dramedy), Season 3
Description: For those of you who have been waiting for Nikesh Patel to come back and grace our screens since Indian Summers swept you away or perhaps the reboot of Mindy Kaling’s Four Weddings and a Funeral had you itching for a second season, you are in luck. He’s back and he’s back in a really fun, witty, nerdist love story where a famous actor boy meets “normal” girl and a complicated (think Notting Hill), undefined relationship ensues. Read more here.
Give it a try.
Release Date: September 23 on Max.
Casting JonBenet is a must see if you haven't already -Patrick
Beth - this is terrific stuff! I love how you break down audience expectations with this: "If you are however willing to examine more deeply the systems that create monsters, and amenable to sitting through the monotony of the very dull tasks of a lowly, “smart” assistant waiting on some retributive action or justice that may or may not occur, then this may be the thing for you." I wanna see this movie - it will feel both familiar and awful, but I wanna see it anyway and that is thanks to you!