THE ASSISTANT

US, 2019, 87 minutes, Colour.
Julia Garner, Matthew Macfadyen, Mackenzie Leigh.
Directed by Kitty Green.

This film is one day in the life of an assistant who works in corporate business, especially in the entertainment world. She is played by Julia Garner, effective as the young woman who sees this job as an opportunity (encouraged by her parents) who eventually wants to work in production.

The film opens in the dark, the assistant waking, preparing to go to work, with her papers, chauffeur driven, entering into the offices and turning on the lights, getting everything ready for the arrival of the other members of staff – who soon do.

It is worth noting that there is a background of sexual harassment to the film and that it was released at the time of the prosecution of entrepreneur, Harvey Weinstein. The film as a contribution to the atmosphere and thrusts of the Me# Too Movement.

What the audience is shown is the detailed routine required of the assistant as well as her capacity for improvisation. The boss is absent but we hear his voice on the phone. There are quite a number of other staff, men and women, working on the same floor. The women tend to be dominant. The men work but are prone to gossip and are aware of the behaviour of the boss.

In many ways, the assistant is run off her feet. She has phone calls to make, appointments to establish and to confirm. She has to type. She has to make copies of documents and distribute them. She also has to go out and get the lunches. She is particularly upset when the boss brings a waitress from Idaho with promise of establishing her in a job.

In the afternoon, she goes to one of the company officials who receives complaints (Matthew Macfadyen). She is both confident and lacking in confidence in making the complaint about the boss and his treatment. The official lends something of a sympathetic ear but then turns the matters back on the assistant, reminding her of the good shop she has and the opportunities it offers. She returns to her own office without achieving anything.

She works late into the night, is expected to attend to all the detail and close up the office – and to appear early the next morning continue her work.

This is a picture of women in the workplace in the United States, the contribution, but their being imposed on as well as being exploited by their bosses and the need for some kind of redress.

1. A view of the corporate world? Organisation, various levels, various jobs, people being used, the demands, abuse?

2. The title? The media company, the president of the company, his demands, the atmosphere in the workplace?

3. The assistant as menial, the range of tasks, the will and whims of superiors, the long hours?

4. Jane, getting up in the morning, the dark, apartment, the car, papers, the chauffeur, her arrival, turning on the lights, gradually people coming to work, settling in their workplaces?

5. Jan as a character, phone call from her mother, phone call to her father, missing his birthday? Their hopes, seeing this job as an opportunity? Her wanting to be a producer eventually? In the meantime…?

6. The action taking place over the day, the range of phone calls, making appointments, hotels, drivers, the typing, the various issues of copy, the copier, shredding, texts and distributing them to the desks? Getting the meals?

7. The relationship to the others in the office, the boss and his voice? The hours and demands? Her reaction to the waitress, glamour, her being instantly hired? The new assistant and the desk?

8. Going to the official, his initial sympathy, her being hesitant, his knowledge of the file on her, her wanting to make a complaint, his turning the issues around, telling her she was lucky to have the job, the dissatisfaction?

9. The further interactions, with the men in the desk near her, their being in the know about the behaviour of the boss and his relationships?

10. The end of the day, finishing her work, wait until everyone went, the lights out?

11. The production of this film at the time of the Me# Too movement, the Harvey Weinstein trials? An expose of exploitation and harassment?