The Assessment
Director: Fleur Fortune
Writer: Nell Garfath Cox, Dave Thomas, John Donnelly
Cast: Elizabeth Olsen, Himesh Patel, Alicia Vikander, Indira Varma, Charlotte Ritchie, Leah Harvey, Anaya Thorley, Nicholas Pinnock, Minnie Driver
Seen on: 30.4.2025

Content Note: rape, attempted suicide

Plot:
Mia (Elizabeth Olsen) and Aaryan (Himesh Patel) are successful, young but not too young, affluent and love each other. That’s why they have applied to have a child – something that, due to scarce ressources – has become regulated. The most important part of the application process is an assessment that lasts several days and that nobody knows any details of beforehand. When their assessor Virginia (Alicia Vikander) arrives on their doorstep, Mia and Aaryan think that they are well prepared. But they could not have prepared for what is to come.

The Assessment is a stylish SciFi movie that works extremely well apart from one scene that left a very sour taste in my mouth.

The Assessment is almost a chamber play, giving us just enough of the world outside to set the scene, but then focusing on the characters and their relationships with each other. The house this is set at becomes almost another character that plays its part with almost as much flair as the central cast.

And what a cast it is. Olsen, Vikander and Patel give layered, difficult and often abrasive performances that shine every second, highlighting the ever-evolving dynamic between the three. As Virginia hammers herself like a wedge between Mia and Aaryan, everything shifts and all relationships are called into question. A highlight of the film is a dinner with short appearances by Minnie Driver and Indira Varma who are absolutely fantastic and add a bit of glitter to everything.

There was just one thing that really didn’t sit right with me – and not because it was unsettling, the entire film is. There is a scene where Virginia rapes Aaryan – and while the film captures Aaryan’s reaction, his shock, his pain, his unwillingness, it later brushes this off in favor of deepening the relationship between Virginia and Mia. While it’s not unrealistic that the rape of a man by a woman isn’t taken seriously, unfortunately, I thought that the film really mishandled this moment.

But other than that, it is a thought-provoking film that wonders about parenthood, or rather what happens when you’re – possibly – denied being a parent although you wish to be (for whatever reason, in this case a totalitarian government). You can also understand it as a meditation on the destructive force a child can be for a partnership and the parents‘ lives. It is definitely worth engaging with.

Summarizing: thought-provoking and full of flair.