The Assessment

There was an era in television and filmmaking not too far back where everything started to feel devoid of life. It was the height of COVID and the unrelenting fallout from that time. You didn’t stuff your scenes with extras or really have more than a couple actors in a room together. Some productions were more obvious than others. And some may have felt that way intentionally. We shall never know. The Assessment has the empty feeling of a COVID production, but I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. The film feels very sparse and lonely and does its job as a creepfest that features what at first seems like a really ludicrous performance by Alicia Vikander, but turns out to be just what this film needs.

I’m still a little split on the whole post-apocalypse versus dystopia. Like are all post-apocalyptic movies dystopian? But not all dystopian films post-apocalyptic? I think that’s right, but can never be sure. The Assessment seems to basically be both. The world has suffered some sort of catastrophic environmental collapse and our protagonists are living in what amounts to a smart home on a lonely ocean bluff under what seems to be a protective dome. I think? They take some sort of drug that seems to extend their lives somehow, but also possibly, maybe makes them sterile? Honestly, the explanation of the drug and why babies aren’t a thing is a little unclear to me. But, suffice it to say, that they still need children to repopulate the bubble — a bubble whose size and shape is also completely unclear — but they also need to control the number of babies so as to… not outgrow the bubble? Or, I imagine, eat too much food or drink too much of the potable water or whatever? Yeah, again, this is never really explained very well. But in order to decide who gets to have kids, they send an assessor to applicants’ homes to put them through a battery of tests in order to see if they are worthy of procreating. Now, this is also something that is not exactly clear. We see the couple, Mia (Elizabeth Olsen) and Aaryan (Himesh Patel), twice engage in some sex that can’t actually get you pregnant if you know what I’m sayin.’ Mouth sex. It’s mouth sex. So, I was under the impression that like sex-sex was outlawed or something. And am still a little confused on that front. I really want to know about the sex! But, from what I gather, whatever baby comes along if you get approved happens outside the woman’s body anyway, so no sex-sex needed, I guess. But, also, you either aren’t allowed to or can’t actually get physically pregnant because of the life-saving-but-also-life-extending drugs. Perhaps.

Enter Virginia (Vikander), the couple’s assessor. She seems all buttoned up — and the couple know that any mistake they make could get them bounced — but she soon turns into an absolute lunatic. Mostly by acting like a small, insolent child. The couple is completely confused and confounded how they should be treating this whole-ass adult woman who is acting like a destructive, spoiled child. There is a dinner party with a few people at one point — one where we kind of get the tension and discussion around the ethics of this process and selective breeding and whatnot — but otherwise it’s the three main characters locked in this futuristic Mondrian house with its retro late-1960’s styling trying to figure out how they can best pass this test and/or deal with Virginia’s manipulations without blowing apart. In the meantime, Aaryan works in this bizarrely giant blank room in his house where he tries to create virtual pets for human companionship — trying the entire time to get the hair on his chimp correct. Since they apparently had to euthanize all the pets and domesticated animals to presumably preserve foodstuffs. This whole virtual pet thing is heading toward an obvious conclusion, but I won’t spoil it if you can’t guess. But I bet you will. And Mia works out in her greenhouse on growing sustainable food and cultures and a single orchid, which is also never really explained.

The tone is kind of a funny one. There are definitely some Single White Female or The Hand That Rocks the Cradle vibes (coincidently both 1992 movies that I haven’t seen in decades that randomly popped into my head for some reason), but also some dark humor and indie sci-fi horror touches. It’s a little all over the place, which I suppose keeps the viewer on their toes, but also makes things a bit confusing. Especially when the characters make the decisions they do at the end of the film. And, no, it ain’t humorous in the slightest. Nor, frankly, is it earned in the case of Mia. There is a twist that triggers the kind of fracturing of the world the three live in and, while incredibly dark, Victoria’s is a realistic and understandable reaction. Aaryan’s is also a clear, but very sad, response. But Mia, I just don’t get. Mostly because the current planet and conditions (and this whole life-extending thing) are never really clarified, I was a bit confused about the impact of Mia’s final move. I kind of get her motivation — but only kind of — but not really the ramifications of her final choice. Despite all this, the acting is very good across the board. Again, I was a little skeptical of what the hell Vikander was doing as first, but it all makes sense once you see the whole film. The set design and decoration looks very cool, and the film itself is interesting and beautiful in its starkness. Perhaps director, Fleur Fortune, was inspired by Vikander’s work in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, as this definitely feels like it takes place in the same universe as his dystopian sci-fi worlds both visually and emotionally. It’s an imperfect film, but one that fits well in a specific psychological sci-fi genre that if you happen to like works very well and leaves an impression.