A modern horror story? The Assistant is one of those quiet movies that creeps up on you. It documents one day in the life of wanna-be film producer, a female. It’s a cautionary tale for those (females) with media ambitions.
Jane (admirably played by Ozark’s actor, Julia Garner) has landed her dream job, an assistant to an unseen demanding executive in an unnamed film production company.
The power of the movie is the lowkey drudgery of Jane’s every day; she arrives first, leaves last, and does all the crappy jobs. She empties wastepaper baskets, cleans the staff kitchen and babysits her boss’s children. She has to deal with her smug male co-workers who are all too keen to see her fail. In a frenemy way. She manages her boss’s business and personal life: cue an irate wife asking why her credit cards are cancelled. Jane’s “help” earns her an angry wife hangup and unwarranted rebuke from her boss. She responds with an embarrassingly humble email promising she’ll do better and affirming ‘gratitude’ for her job. The washedout cinematography, drab costuming and the deadpan dialogue reinforce Jane’s bleak existence. Until….
One day a new “assistant”, Ruby, arrives. Plain Jane is suspicious. Ruby (Makenzie Leigh) is colourful, beautiful and clearly favoured by the boss; she is housed in an expensive hotel and suddenly the boss goes missing for hours. Perturbed, Jane takes her concerns to HR guy (Matthew MacFayden). While HR mouths all the right platitudes, he basically wants to know what she expects him to do–she has no proof that anything is going on, and he reminds her of the 400 applications that sit on his desk. It’s a wonderfully awkward subtext: if she complains then she can find another job. Jane recapitulates and leaves–you feel her shoulders slump and the hopelessness of her situation. Especially when she returns to her desk—to the scorn of the other assistants and her boss.
This is a quiet quiet film – (kudos to Kitty Green for masterful directing) – a film for an overcast day when you feel your life sucks. It underscores so many office issues: the servitude of being a newbie PA in a busy office (do people still leave coffee cups for “someone” to clean up?); the gendered harassment (the other male assistants are just as guilty in shoving unwanted tasks onto Jane); the obsequiousness needed to survive the entertainment industry. It should be seen by anyone who thinks that working in film/tv is glamorous. And a must watch for fans of The Morning Show.
Watch for Garner’s facial expressions, her costuming, and the final scene when she talks to her family.
It’s not a film for everyone – only the thoughtful.
Available to rent via Foxtel On Demand now and from 24 June via multiple platforms (Google Play, iTunes, Fetch TV, Telstra Bigpond, Sony (Playstation Network), Microsoft & Quickflix)
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