Fleur Fortune's debut feature, The Assessment, is evocative and visually stylized. This science fiction drama imagines a future where virtually everything would be controlled by the state. Climate change destroyed most of the world, and what remained of it was completely controlled and protected. Resources were limited, and consequently, parenthood was also under the jurisdiction of the state. We meet a loving couple, Mia and Aaryan, whose contribution to building the "new world" was significant. Aaryan was a scientist working on artificial intelligence, while Mia was a plant biologist whose research focused on the search for new sources of organic energy. The couple believed they were at the stage of their relationship where they were ready to raise a child together. But in the "new world," women were not allowed to conceive, and the only way to have a child was through a process known as the "Assessment."
The new world was made up of elites who could afford fresh air and clean water, while the average population was relegated to wastelands. Since resource scarcity was a challenge, babies were raised outside the womb, and only suitable candidates could raise them. Mia and Aaryan believed they were a perfect couple with the means to support a child. But their conviction wasn't enough to convince the state. The authoritarian government had a parent selection system that involved a counselor living with potential parents for a week to determine their suitability.
Director: Fleur Fortune
Writers: Nell Garfath Cox, Dave Thomas, John Donnelly
Stars: Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Olsen, Himesh Patel
Mia and Aaryan welcomed Virginia, their counselor, into their lives in hopes of impressing her. They were unable to read Virginia's mind when she asked them a few questions that would help her understand if the couple qualified to be parents. From day one, the counselor turned Mia and Aaryan's lives upside down. When she complained about the room she'd been assigned, the couple offered her their bedroom while they squeezed together on the single bed. Mia was horrified to see Virginia watching her and Aaryan making love. She stated that watching them be intimate was also part of the evaluation. As much as they wanted a child, putting up with Virginia was a challenge for the couple. At first, Mia felt that Virginia preferred Aaryan to her. Virginia pretended to be a child, and the couple was expected to comply with her every demand. Mia struggled to take the act seriously. She wondered if giving in to her demands was the only solution, or if perhaps setting boundaries would help her demonstrate her parenting skills. Whenever Mia felt overwhelmed, Aaryan reminded her that it was all just a test and that she shouldn't be offended by Virginia's rude behavior.
After a couple of days, Mia finally struck up a friendship with Virginia. She bathed her and combed her hair, and experienced the maternal affection she had always longed for. Mia's mother was a rebel exiled to the old world as a child. Mia longed to be a mother so her daughter could experience everything she had missed as a child. It was, in a way, her way of dealing with the unpleasant memories of her childhood. For Aaryan, raising a child was the obvious next step in their relationship. The couple tried to keep up with Virginia's antics, as she continued to test their abilities. They shared an awkward past, from entertaining guests to caring for their daughter (Virginia), even amidst the chaos. Mia gradually learned to prioritize Virginia's needs and felt a deep connection with her, something unexpected in a fictional situation.
Things took a dramatic turn when Mia had to leave for an emergency, leaving Virginia and Aaryan alone at home. Virginia crawled into Aaryan's bed and demanded to sleep with her. At first, Aaryan resisted, but assumed she would help him with the assessment and agreed. Although he clearly felt guilty knowing he was cheating on his partner, the assessment pushed the participants to their limits, forcing them to do things they had never considered before, leaving them exhausted. Mia was somewhat shocked to discover that the emergency call was a false alarm. She hinted at the possibility that Virginia was responsible for the emergency call and had orchestrated it to get some time alone with Aaryan.
The madness escalates toward the end of The Assessment, when Virginia sets fire to the greenhouse Mia had painstakingly built over the years. Mia had gone swimming, and Aaryan was busy perfecting the texture of the virtual animals he'd been working on (the new world had eliminated animals to save resources, and Aaryan firmly believed virtual animals would help fill the void).
Mia was devastated by the whole incident; she didn't understand what the assessor was trying to prove. She had ruined years of hard work, and she was convinced the assessor no longer had a clue what he was doing. The next morning, the final day of the assessment, Virginia announced that although Mia and Aaryan had proven themselves to be good parents, she didn't think they were good enough. The couple crumbled; they risked their relationship and careers in the hope of a reward at the end, but the outcome left them heartbroken. Aaryan confessed to sleeping with Virginia and wondered if she had held it against him. Mia was shocked to discover that her partner had had sex with the woman who was supposed to be his daughter, but Aaryan explained how, at the time, Virginia had acted like an adult and hinted that her compliance would positively influence the final outcome. Virginia left; she was nothing short of a storm that had upended the life Mia and Aaryan had built. Later, Mia discovered a piece of a structure they had to build during the assessment among the ruins of the greenhouse. They had been told that not using all the pieces would affect the outcome, and she wondered if not doing so would have hurt their chances of becoming parents. Mia felt an urgency to know the reason for the result, although contacting a counselor after the procedure was prohibited; she no longer cared. She managed to find Virginia's address and also learned that her real name was Grace.
The woman who had terrorized them for a week lived in a small apartment with very few belongings to her name. Her living conditions highlighted her stressful financial situation. Mia demanded to know the reason for her disapproval; Grace hesitated to answer at first, but eventually stated that, like most parents, they too weren't good enough. Mia couldn't help but wonder what the statistics were on the program's acceptance rate and was horrified when Grace mentioned that, for the past six years, no one had passed the test. Mia realized it was all a scam to make people feel hopeful when, in reality, there was no way they could become parents. The assessment was done simply to keep the illusion alive and was designed to make participants fail. Mia shamed Grace for participating, even knowing the devastating impact it had on couples. Grace had her own reasons: she admitted that most assessors quit the job within a couple of months due to the emotional toll it took on them. But she had learned to suppress her feelings and simply abide by the protocols. Grace had lost her daughter, and the state had promised her that if she continued working as an assessor without complaint, she would one day have a child at home. Desperate to experience the joy of motherhood again, Grace held her head high and did her job perfectly. Both women were deceived by the state and denied the bliss of motherhood. Although they came from two different worlds, they could feel each other's pain. Mia addressed what Grace refused to perceive: if influential people like Mia and Aaryan had been intentionally failed, it was impossible for someone as ordinary as Grace to have the chance to be a mother. She, too, was a puppet in the hands of the state, but she refused to accept that there was no light at the end of the tunnel.
After confronting Virginia, Mia felt hopeless in the face of the new world. The new space, cared for and protected, was empty inside. While scientists had discovered ways to keep humans alive forever, the new world didn't address the small joys of life. What it meant to be human was an important question that had gradually become impossible to answer. Mia felt trapped in a world where nothing was real; illusions had been refined to such an extent that it was impossible to distinguish between what was real and what was fake. Mia wanted to feel the raw emotions that humans were meant to experience. Recently, an acquaintance working on the frontier had told her that habitable lands existed in the Old World, and that apparently people were living there, and that they were giving birth to a new generation. Pregnancy had become a distant memory in the New World, where children grew outside the womb. They mocked and commented on how painful and barbaric the entire birthing process must be.
Although information about habitable lands was limited, Mia decided to accept the bet. She handed over her life-extending pills and her ID and crossed the border. Like her mother, she couldn't survive the hateful customs of the New World.
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