The Assessment is a new film, the first to be directed by Fleur Fortune (a name that deserves to be in a Rachel Savernake novel...) and its premise is intriguing. If you had to pigeon-hole the film in a genre, you'd say it was dystopian. The story is set in the future, at a time when - due to scarce resources - would-be parents have to go through a very demanding assessment in order to be allowed to have a child.
Elizabeth Olsen and Himesh Patel play Mia and Aaryon, a couple who are desperate to have a child and they are in a select group that is eligible for assessment. The assessment takes place over seven days, but they do not know what it entails. They live in a sophisticated house under some kind of protective dome, but it emerges that there are also some people who, either voluntarily or otherwise, live outside the protected area. The lives of the elite are prolonged, very considerably, by pharmaceuticals. Mia is a botanist and Aaryon creates virtual reality pets, because domestic pets have been culled because of the risk of disease.
Virginia (Alice Vikander) arrives to stay with them for a week to conduct the assessment. She is an enigmatic individual and Mia and Aaryon struggle to figure out how to impress her. Things become more complicated when Virginia pretends to be a difficult child, tantrums and all. Gradually, the story becomes darker and darker.
So often an intriguing premise is let down by the plot development, but I really liked this movie. The script was intelligent and thought-provoking, as well as unusual and, in some respects, strange. I also thought the ending was good, although for obvious reasons I can't explain why. It's not the cheeriest film you'll ever see, not by a long chalk, and it's definitely not Star Wars. But if you're in the mood for a bleak but well-written and well-acted film, this might be for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment