The Assistant 2019
Julia Garner stars as Jane in THE ASSISTANT, a Bleecker Street release.
Credit: Ty Johnson / Bleecker Street
The Assistant is a dark piercing drama directed by Kitty Green, that shows a young female assistant (Julia Garner) working in a very male dominated environment and finds herself much stressed due to the activities around her. The character Jane seems to be a weak young girl who seems very uncomfortable at her job due to the misogynistic environment. Even though the whole film revolved around a day at work for the assistant, audiences still wanted to see the end result of a #MeToo oriented film.
The first half of the film was very tedious. Her day tasks were making coffee, picking up things in the morning, stapling, cleaning up a couch where she finds an earring, scheduling meetings and flights as well as dealing with her Harvey Weinstein like-boss along with his suspicious wife. Although we don’t see him in the whole film, his presence is felt through him shouting at her on the phone. That’s why the whole film felt like a day working for Harvey Weinstein. Yet audiences were glued to know what would happen in the end. Would this be a win for a girl witnessing all the chauvinism around her?
Matthew Macfadyen stars as Wilcock in THE ASSISTANT, a Bleecker Street release.
Credit: Ty Johnson / Bleecker Street
There are two male assistants who do give her advice on not stepping on any toes, and also made sure she writes up an apology email to a client she may have crossed the line with.
In the later part of the film, Jane goes to the HR office to complain, where she is belittled by the HR personnel stating that there are 400 resumes and she is lucky to work at the production house. At the end of the conversation, the HR personnel says, “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. You’re not his type.” Jane answers with her silence, which leads to the end of the film of her sitting in a café.
Overall, this is a film about a day in a Hollywood production company which projects the male misogynistic attitudes towards young women.
