‘What if we’re not good enough?’
Raising a child often feels like an impossible test in which the criteria to ‘pass’ are mysterious and unknowable, and the goalposts are constantly moving – sometimes to a different playing field altogether. The Assessment, the debut feature from French filmmaker Fleur Fortuné, takes the anxieties around parenthood and turns them into a devilish three-hander that is quite unlike anything I’ve seen before…
In a dystopian near future, environmental collapse has resulted in strict population controls. Giving birth naturally is no longer an option (for reasons that don’t become clear until later on), and so, the only way to have a child is to adopt one following a stringent assessment. Mia (Elizabeth Olsen) and Aaryan (Himesh Patel), a seemingly successful and loving couple, are put through their paces by their assessor, Virginia (Alicia Vikander).
So… The Assessment. If you’re not a parent, imagine all your absolute worst social anxieties being forced upon you as part of the most important assessment you’ll ever take in your life. This is all your worst nightmares writ large. At one point, the central couple are forced to host a meal for their various ex-lovers, estranged family members and nemeses. It’s as excruciating to watch as it sounds. If you are a parent, imagine being forced to live out all those worst case scenarios you’ve had about your child hurting themselves again and again and again. That is The Assessment. It’s a watch-from-behind-your-fingers kinda film that, honestly, will probably make you feel pretty bad throughout. It’s not totally bleak, but it maintains an aura of sadness coupled with an impending sense of dread and hopelessness that ensured that I was actually quite pleased when it ended and I could go and eat some Coco Pops to calm down.
In the same way that Alex Garland’s Ex-Machina sees Vikander using her blank sensuality to manipulate two morons, her performance here does something similar, but with a thin veneer of humanity that makes her performance all the more horrifying. It’s no coincidence that the film stumbles somewhat in the third act when they try to humanise her character further. Sometimes, less is more.
The Assessment will ruin your night, but it’s also properly innovative and genuinely unique – an underrated gem.
