The Assessment Review: Alicia Vikander Steals the Show in Fleur Fortuné’s Promising Directorial Debut
Parenthood is one of life’s greatest joys, but in Fleur Fortuné’s The Assessment, one has to earn the legal right to have a child. Set in a dystopian future where the world is separated between the old and the new, Mia (Elizabeth Olsen) and Aaryan (Himesh Patel) are among the fortunate married couples living in the latter. As privileged as they may seem, residing in a designer home on a secluded island, their lives are controlled by the government, and this includes the strict rule that must be followed if they want a child.
To qualify for that, they must undergo the titular assessment. A total of seven-day assessment, to be exact, where an assessor will be assigned to oversee the entire process. Both Mia and Aaryan are ready for this, but getting through each assessment is a different story altogether since it involves both psychological and mental challenges.
The movie gets off to a slow start but it doesn’t take long before Fortuné, a former music video director working from Mrs Thomas (Neil Garfath Cox) & Mr Thomas (Dave Thomas) and John Donnelly’s screenplay, manages to keep things intriguing once an assessor played by Alicia Vikander as Virginia arrives at Mia and Aaryan’s home. It starts with a standard Q&A session, and the seven-day assessment will take place in and out of their home.
Right from the first day alone, it’s already a litmus test for Mia and Aaryan. The seven-day assessment allows Fortuné to play around with the narrative structure, like how the test ultimately puts pressure on Mia and Aaryan’s relationship and trust. When Virginia fully embraces her role-playing as a child, favoritism, patience, and insecurities dominate throughout the grueling assessment. We see how Mia begins to feel uncomfortable over her husband warming up to Virginia, even though it was supposed to be a playacting between the parents and a child.
Kudos go to Vikander for her committed performance as an assessor, whose unpredictable, chameleon-like personality is no doubt one of her best roles to date. She can be extremely childish, like a stubborn toddler, by making a mess in the kitchen. Or acting all rebellious in front of Mia after a heated “mother-and-daughter” argument. Not to mention how she causes a ruckus during a dinner party hosted by Mia and Aaryan.
As the story progresses, you may wonder whether Mia’s role-playing commitment is just the way the rules work or has a hidden agenda after all. It even gets creepy and disturbing at some point, leading to an unexpected moment that I didn’t see coming. Save for the dinner party scene, The Assessment is pretty much a chamber drama revolving around three characters: Mia, Aaryan and Virginia. While the latter steals the show here, Elizabeth Olsen and Himesh Patel deserve equal mention as the eager-to-be parents trying their best to fulfill whatever the assessor requires them to do.
Although this is the first time Fortuné directed a feature, she demonstrates a flair for cerebral filmmaking touches with a dash of absurdity and pitch-black humour. Her music-video background is put to good use in successfully creating a distinctly cold and atmospheric visual styling with the help of Magnus Nordenhof Jønck’s moody cinematography and Jan Houllevigue’s minimalist production design.
The first two acts nearly convince me this is going to be in my list as one of the best movies of the year, but the third act somewhat falters along the way. It was rather an underwhelming payoff, especially after all the promising buildup that kept me engaged. Still, even with the shortcomings, Fleur Fortuné remains an up-and-coming filmmaker to look for in the future.
