critiques/reviews

For a while, “The Assistant” seems as though it could simply hover in Jane’s world for hours, as if presenting the #MeToo equivalent of Chantal Akerman’s “Jeanne Dielman.” But then the movie injects a subtle plot twist, as Jane’s suddenly tasked with taking a young new assistant (Kristine Froseth) to her own hotel room. The wide-eyed Ohio transplant’s sudden A-list treatment confounds Jane, who seems as if she’s in denial about her boss’ real agenda with the young woman, and instigates a visit to the company HR office that pitches the movie into a whole new level of discomfort. Played by “Succession” star Matthew Macfadyen, the executive tasked with belittling Jane for her complaint magnifies the way the company exerted control over their liabilities and how they got away with it. The backlash Jane experiences from her small attempt to take charge is devastating, and it ends with a sudden email from her boss that gives her just enough encouragement to keep her in line

But the tone of The Assistant subverts sensationalism—even in that meeting with HR, which almost runs the risk of giving us a too-cartoonish villain. It’s a great credit to Matthew Macfadyen’s HR executive—by turns loud, aggressive, perplexingly obtuse, and devastatingly straightforward—and the powder keg you feel building behind Garner’s eyes. The moment seals the movie’s impact; watching it, I wanted to leap out of my seat.

Unfolding over one acutely distressing workday, “The Assistant” is less a #MeToo story than a painstaking examination of the way individual slights can coalesce into a suffocating miasma of harassment. That funk is breathed by everyone in a movie that strikingly pairs the executive’s demeaning actions with the stifling moral vacancy of the power structure that shields him. In one virtuosic scene, Jane haltingly complains to a seemingly welcoming human resources representative (a marvelous Matthew Macfadyen). The turn taken by their conversation will hit you like velvet-covered shrapnel.

Jane slips over to the adjacent office and asks for a meeting with the head of HR, played by Matthew Macfadyen. In a beautifully executed scene, first HR guy feigns concern, then he plays obtuse as Jane tries to lay out her worries about this young woman. “What can we do?” “About what?” “About the girl.” In this scene, we learn that Jane’s only been in this job for five weeks. Is this the day that she finally figures out what sort of illicit activities her boss is up to? Or has she known, and this the day that her denial can no longer persist? Is this the day she gets fed up with pretending? It’s hard to say.

What’s clear is that she wants to be a producer some day, and HR guy thinks, “you’ve got a great future… Why throw it all away?” “I can file a complaint for you, but I think you know how it would come off.” Jane ultimately tells him not to file the complaint, and as she leaves, HR Guy reassures her, “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. You’re not his type.” As if she asked for a meeting because she was concerned about herself. The message is clear: In this business, you should only worry about yourself and your own trajectory.

Jane has a moment of rebellion quickly tamped down by a human resources exec played by Matthew Macfadyen in a short but powerful performance of weaponized simpering. The truly dark thing? His argument makes sense.

Jane is not a crusader; she doesn’t want to jeopardize her job. But her increasing discomfort over events of the day finally leads her to confide her doubts to the head of HR, hoping for advice. Matthew Macfadyen is terrifically glib and unctuous in the role; in the movie’s most revealing scene, he oozes faux camaraderie as he dismisses her fears—not because they are groundless, but because they are impossible to prove. He parrots back her fragile bits of evidence like a D.A. eviscerating an unreliable witness.

Trois ans après l’affaire Weinstein et la montée du mouvement #MeToo, The Assistant rappelle qu’Harvey n’était qu’un nom parmi tous les autres que l’on a pu couvrir depuis des années dans l’industrie du cinéma. Et c’est avec un certain effarement que l’on avance dans le film, tant la mise en scène et le scénario de Kitty Green enlisent son héroïne dans une situation de paranoïa destructrice : et si son patron était l’un de ces hommes ? L’arrivée d’une nouvelle assistante, campée par Kristine Froseth, anime ses inquiétudes. Car il y a les on-dit, les blagues des collègues, les murmures, bref : là aussi, la réalisatrice nous immerge avec brio dans un quotidien ultra-toxique, où tout se sait, mais surtout, où tout le monde le sait. Et la scène du film la plus brillante restera sûrement celle de l’entretien entre Jane et le chef des relations humaines de l’entreprise (incarné par Matthew Macfadyen), qu’elle pense – évidemment – être de confiance. Le ton rassurant et conciliant de l’homme vire peu à peu aux jeux de manipulation, pour s’achever sur un constat effarant : Jane n’a pas de preuve, rien de tangible. Alors pourquoi s’embêter ? Et puis… « Ne te fais pas trop de soucis, tu n’es pas son genre ». Tout est dit.