The Assessment
2024
***½
Director: Fleur Fortuné
Cast: Elizabeth Olsen, Alicia Vikander, Himesh Patel, Indira Varma, Nicholas Pinnock, Charlotte Ritchie, Leah Harvey, Minnie Driver, Anaya Thorley
In a dystopian future where the state strictly controls all aspects of reproduction, a married couple faces a tense seven-day assessment to prove their suitability for parenthood. Fleur Fortuné's feature debut is a stylish, understated, and wonderfully unhinged science fiction drama, which offers a fresh twist on a Handmaid's Tale-like scenario. All the performances are great, but Alicia Vikander has a particularly juicy role as the assessor, who not only observes but also manipulates and springs traps on the couple.
