Jun 21

Jun 21 FILM REVIEW: Chillingly confronting "The Assistant" is essential viewing

What happens if Franz Kafka wrote about #metoo? You get The Assistant.

Directed and written by Kitty Green, the ripped-from-the-headlines story of The Assistant is a dark, never-ending cycle of dead ends and false promises that is devastatingly effective in showing where the #metoo movement came from. That said, while the film is mostly quite sombre due to its subject matter, it is never less than compelling in how it betrays the misogyny and oppressive power structures that lurk behind closed doors. The Assistant sets out to dissect the patriarchy in devastating fashion, ripping out its insides and revealing how cold and uncompromising it can really be.

Julia Garner, in one of the best performances of the year (I’m calling it!) plays Jane, a lowly under-payed, ridiculously overworked PA. She works at a movie production company for a man whose presence is ominous, to say the least. Much like the omnipotent hidden figures in many of Kafka’s greatest works, Jane’s boss is never seen, only heard. He screams abhorrent obscenities over the phone at her. He’s abusive, manipulative. He engages in adulterous activity and makes executive decisions based on vain impulse. Sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it? It should be no secret that he’s pretty much a stand-in for Harvey Weinstein. And as a stand-in, he is eviscerated by this movie in an act of cinematic justice and punishment if ever there was one.

With The Assistant, Writer-Director Kitty Green is not just concerned with the obvious faces of workplace misogyny. She is also interested in more subtle variations of misogyny that exist in our society today: The forms that come in subtle condescension, suggestive and inappropriate remarks – generally anything that puts women in positions of vulnerability. Green populates her film with these headless suits, eerily circling the building, mumbling and conspiring. They are the faces of power and as such have no personality, warmth or humanity. Then there are Jane’s co-workers, seemingly one-tier up from her. Their smugness and arrogance on full display, as they bait and taunt her. As she’s left to cleaning up the mess of the numerous problems her philandering boss has left for her, her workplace bully instructs her on the best ways to apologize to him for any grievances she may have committed. It’s chilling stuff, as Garner’s performance anchors Jane with the terrifying weight, constantly carrying nothing but shame, anger, and exhaustion.

As a film that encapsulates the birth of the #metoo movement, The Assistant is essential viewing. Infused with insightful direction and an understated and effective performance by Julia Garner, the film manages to say a whole lot by saying very little. It is a critique of the environment faced by young females working in the TV and film industry, a microcosm of the terrifying realities of a culture dominated by bullying and misogyny. A Kafka-esque nightmare you have to see.