The Assistant

A film by Kitty Green. In English with German subtitles.

[Credits] [Tickets und Termine] [Trailer]

Another day at the office. Jane, the new assistant to a powerful media mogul, is the first to arri­ve and, by the end of the film, will be the last to lea­ve. She does her job, endu­res her col­le­agues’ con­stant hosti­li­ty and appli­es hers­elf to her gro­wing pile of tasks with pains­ta­king pre­cis­i­on: prin­ting out sche­du­les, arran­ging tra­vel, orde­ring lunch and tidy­ing up her boss’s office. Without him ever once put­ting in an appearance in front of the came­ra, his exis­tence is none­thel­ess all-per­va­si­ve – for both Jane and the audi­ence. We hear him on the other end of the pho­ne repri­man­ding Jane; we also wit­ness the array of attrac­ti­ve young women who are pay­ing a visit to the com­pa­ny at his behest. Jane’s sus­pi­ci­ons and dis­com­fort spin out of con­trol as it beco­mes clear that she is part of an abu­si­ve sys­tem.
Assembled with visu­al rigour and nar­ra­ti­ve quietu­de, Kitty Green’s grip­ping fic­tion­al debut homes in on oppres­si­ve prac­ti­ces in a work­place and depicts the abu­se taking place behind clo­sed doors from the per­spec­ti­ve of tho­se who are its wil­ling or unwil­ling enablers. By the end, we may not have seen much, but we under­stand everything.


Credits:

US 2019, 87 Min., engl. OmU,
Regie: Kitty Green
Kamera: Michael Latham
Schnitt: Kitty Green, Blair McClendon
mit Julia Garner, Matthew Macfadyen, Makenzie Leigh, Kristine Froseth


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