The Assistant (2019 film)

The Assistant is a 2019 American drama film written, directed, produced, and edited by Kitty Green. It stars Julia Garner, Matthew Macfadyen, Makenzie Leigh, Kristine Froseth, Jon Orsini, and Noah Robbins.

The Assistant
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKitty Green
Produced by
  • Kitty Green
  • James Schamus
  • Scott Macaulay
  • P. Jennifer Dana
  • Ross Jacobson
Written byKitty Green
Starring
Music byTamar-kali
CinematographyMichael Latham
Edited by
  • Kitty Green
  • Blair McClendon
Production
companies
  • Symbolic Exchange
  • 3311 Productions
  • Level Forward
  • Cinereach
  • Forensic Films
  • Bellmer Pictures
  • JJ Homeward Productions
Distributed byBleecker Street
Release date
  • August 30, 2019 (2019-08-30) (Telluride)
  • January 31, 2020 (2020-01-31) (United States)
Running time
87 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.1 million[2][3]

It had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2019. It was released on January 31, 2020, by Bleecker Street.

Plot

The film takes place over the course of a single day in the life of Jane, a junior assistant who has been working at a film production company in New York for five weeks. Jane arrives well before dawn and performs various menial administrative tasks. Her job's long hours and demanding tasks keep her busy and incredibly stressed. During a phone call with her mother, Jane learns that she forgot to call her father on his birthday.

As Jane's day progresses, it becomes clear that her boss has been having sex in his office with many younger women and facilitates a culture of sexual harassment at the company. Many of the male executives make snide comments about the boss's affairs while the female executives handle their own workloads and discuss the possibility of transferring to other departments. Whenever Jane does something her boss deems a mistake, he verbally abuses her over the phone as her two male junior assistant coworkers watch silently. Throughout the day, a variety of people from the boss's life interact with Jane, including his wife, his children's nanny, a famous actor, and a group of Chinese film producers.

In the afternoon, a young, inexperienced woman named Sienna arrives from Idaho, saying she has been offered a job as a junior assistant. Jane, concerned for Sienna's well-being, goes to the Human Resources department to file a report after dropping Sienna off at a 5-star hotel being paid for by the company. Wilcock, the head of HR, encourages Jane to share her concerns but later makes it clear that he is turning a blind eye to her harassment claims, demeaning her, speaking down to her, and stating she is jealous and that filing a formal complaint would destroy Jane's career. As she leaves, he reminds her that she has nothing to worry about as Jane is not the boss's "type". Visibly upset, Jane receives a call from her boss who has been informed of the unfiled report when she returns to her desk. After chastising her over the phone, he demands Jane write an email apology and send it to him. He replies that he is especially hard on Jane because he knows how great she is.

Towards the end of the day, Sienna arrives at the office so Jane can teach her how to use the phone systems. As night falls, Jane prepares a microwave dinner for herself while other employees leave; her boss stays late in his office with a young actress. He calls Jane on the intercom and tells her to go home. Jane goes to a coffee shop across the street and calls her father as she eats a muffin. After she hangs up, she sees a silhouette in her boss's window appearing to have sex.

Cast

Jon Orsini and Noah Robbins appear as Jane's fellow junior assistants, while Purva Bedi portrays an executive assistant and Jane's immediate boss. Migs Govea and Daoud Heidami play film executives, and Patrick Wilson makes an uncredited cameo as an actor.[4]

Jay O. Sanders voices Jane's unnamed boss, while Tony Torn physically portrays him. Similarly, Manu Narayan voices the boss' driver Amir, while Kirit Kapadia physically portrays him. Heather MacCrae voices Jane's mother, and Mark Jakoby voices her father.

Production

In September 2018, it was announced Kitty Green would write and direct the film with James Schamus and Scott Macaulay producing under their Symbolic Exchange banner.[5] In December 2018, Julia Garner joined the cast of the film.[6] In April 2019, Matthew Macfadyen, Kristine Froseth, Makenzie Leigh, Noah Robbins and Dagmara Domińczyk joined the cast of the film. Production concluded that same month in New York City.[7] The film helps explain how sexually predatory behavior by powerful men often remains hidden.[8]

Release

The Assistant had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2019.[9] Shortly after, Bleecker Street acquired distribution rights to the film, and set it for a January 31, 2020, release.[10]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 91% based on 198 reviews, with an average rating of 7.58/10. The critical consensus reads, "Led by a powerhouse performance from Julia Garner, The Assistant offers a withering critique of workplace harassment and systemic oppression."[11] On Metacritic, which assesses films on a score out of 100, The Assistant holds a score of 79 based on reviews from 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[12]

Writing for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw called it "a claustrophobic, intimately unsettling movie" and stated that "it can claim to be the first drama that addresses the #MeToo issue".[13] In a similarly positive review, Moira Macdonald of the Seattle Times lauded Julia Garner's performance and described the film as "[shining] a light on a malevolent shadow". She also complimented it on being "wound taut and perfectly controlled", just like its main protagonist, making for an experience that "feels entirely real".[14] Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times viewed the film as "less a #MeToo story than a painstaking examination of the way individual slights can coalesce into a suffocating miasma of harassment" and also noted Garner's lead performance, which she said "makes the slow draining of Jane’s soul almost visible".[15]

gollark: That was a rhetorical question. I know approximately what VGA looks like.
gollark: Is that *VGA*?
gollark: And keyboard, I suppose.
gollark: I can't actually see the computer so this is only a monitor reveal.
gollark: Also television?

See also

References
  1. "Telluride Program Guide" (PDF). Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  2. "The Assistant". The Numbers. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  3. "The Assistant". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  4. Shaffer, Mitchell (February 14, 2020). "The Assistant Director Kitty Green On the Banality of Evil in #MeToo Workplace Drama". Slash Film. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
  5. D'Alessandro, Anthony (September 7, 2018). "Harvey Weinstein Assistant Feature In The Works From Kitty Green & James Schamus – Toronto". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  6. Wiseman, Andreas (December 13, 2018). "Harvey Weinstein Assistant Movie: 'Ozark' Star Julia Garner In Negotiations To Play Lead". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  7. Wiseman, Andreas (April 8, 2019). "Harvey Weinstein Assistant Movie: Matthew Macfadyen, Kristine Froseth & Makenzie Leigh Join Kitty Green Pic". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  8. Chang, Justin (January 28, 2020). "'The Assistant' Helps Explain How Predatory Behavior Stays Hidden". NPR. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  9. Hammond, Pete (August 29, 2019). "Telluride Film Festival: 'Ford V Ferrari', 'Judy', 'Motherless Brooklyn', Weinstein-Inspired Drama 'The Assistant' Among Premieres Headed To 46th Edition – Full List". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  10. Hipes, Patrick (October 25, 2019). "Harvey Weinstein-Inspired 'The Assistant' Acquired By Bleecker Street, Will Hit Theaters In January". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  11. "The Assistant (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  12. "The Assistant Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  13. Bradshaw, Peter (April 30, 2020). "The Assistant review". The Guardian. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  14. Macdonald, Moira (February 11, 2020). "'The Assistant' review: This devastating look at workplace harassment shines a light on a malevolent shadow". Seattle Times. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  15. Catsoulis, Jeannette (January 30, 2020). "'The Assistant' Review: Screaming on the Inside". The New York Times. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
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