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Julia Garner is a silent witness to monstrous goings-on in a Hollywood studio in The Assistant |
Kitty Green’s film is very good at getting across the
grinding, depressing, overbearing misery of entry level jobs. Jane slaves for
hours at thankless, menial tasks. Coats are thrown at her, cups dunked down in
front of her to clean, she is never addressed by name and barely has eye
contact with another member of staff. Her contact with her boss is enraged phone
calls after non-existent errors (for which she has to write grovelling email
apologies) or tiny moments of praise communicated by third parties. Jane is
still clinging to the dream of one day becoming a producer herself – but her
day-to-day life is a never-ending stream of insults, misery and exploitation.
The film is also very good at showing how someone like
Weinstein got away with it for so long. It’s because everyone knows – so
much so that it’s become normalised, a part of everyday life, something that no
longer seems outrageous or disgusting but just a part of how the business
operates. People joke about not sitting on his sofa. Everyone knows what
“private screening” is code for. People book late night flights so their boss
can have time for his evening exploitation of young actresses. His erectile
dysfunction medicine is delivered to the office. Headshots of actresses are
printed off and piled on his desk, like a hardcopy of Tinder. The HR department
goes out of its way to cover up his crimes.
Jane’s encounter with Matthew MacFadyen’s slimey HR manager
is the film’s highlight. Concerned about a naïve young waitress who has clearly
been plucked out of a country diner for the bosses perverse entertainment, Jane
tries to raise her concerns with HR. She is promptly told complaints will
destroy her career, be seen as her own envy – and that she doesn’t need to
worry as she is not “his type”. MacFadyen oozes corrupt indifference.
It’s the film’s highlight, as it’s the closest it gets to a giving
Jane a character arc. It’s the only time we see her pushing against her working
environment – and then making a conscious decision to do nothing about it.
While the film’s idea to cover a single day in Jane’s career, after she has
spent weeks at the company, is successful in getting across the grinding monotony
and everyday sexism and culture of abuse, it does mean the film effectively
makes its point in the first fifteen minutes and then repeats it endlessly for
the next 70. It also means that, while Julia Garner is very good her character
largely hits the same note of downtrodden concealed pain and anger continually.
A more interesting film – if more conventional – could have
charted several weeks, allowing us to see how the optimism and excitement Jane
seemed to start with in her career was beaten out of her by her appalling
abusive workplace. It would still have allowed us to grasp all the monstrous
normality of the boss’ abuse, but we could have had a richer exploration of the
impact on her.
As it is, The Assistant instead gives a brilliant
sense of how horrible an industry can be when the greedy, destructive, vileness
of its head permeates every inch of it. But that’s kind of all it says or tells
us. It gives us a wonderful sense of what this workplace might be like – but
its lack of event, plot or character dynamics means it doesn’t always make for
rewarding drama.
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