‘The Assessment’ (2025) Review: Parenthood is a Test
Fleur Fortuné’s The Assessment explores a dystopian future in which the world is ravaged by climate disaster. Because the world nearly went extinct, some people want to live in a strict world where food is rationed and animals are replaced with virtual stimulation. With gruesome tasks ahead for Mia (Elizabeth Olsen) and Aaryan (Himesh Patel), The Assessment is a dark comedy and science fiction story that questions every aspect of human life.
Mia is a plant biologist creating new organic sources and Aaryan is a scientist developing an AI model living in a dome in the most remote corner of the new Earth, preserved for people who want to build technology and conduct research for a sustainable future. The world they live in now has a controlled lifespan. Married couples, like Mia and Aaryan, have to undergo a gruelling seven-day assessment to determine if they’re fit to be parents. Their assessor, Virginia (Alicia Vikander), observes the couple and assigns one task every day to rest the couple’s ability to raise a child in their home. She takes on a role that shifts the trajectory of Mia and Aaryan’s relationship.
The world-building in The Assessment is front and centre. It focuses on the emotional aspect of the movie’s themes. The film also explores the complicated feelings of motherhood, setting boundaries, and raising troubling or misbehaving children. However, the film doesn’t distinguish between whether it is a satire or a sincere observation.
Fortuné shows that Mia and Aaryan desperately want to have children, but these characters are underdeveloped. Apart from Virginia’s presence, it is impossible to determine why they want to have children and why their issues arise. The story takes a strange turn when Virginia gets intimately involved with the couple’s sex lives and observes their behaviour. The nail that finally hits the coffin is what destroys their already troublesome marriage.
Perhaps The Assessment is a dark comedy that observes a totalitarian state. With population control and vitamins to sustain the lifespan, the “old world” is entirely cast out from the new world, and only deserving of people who can contribute to society, this might be in the distinct future.
The film’s expository world-building is genius but the character development and story structure leave more questions than answers. It is a predictable dystopian science fiction movie with impressive cinematography and acting by Vikander, however, it falls short and has nothing to impress.
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