The Assessment
The Assessment
6.6
Set in a world destroyed by climate change. Part of society has created a parallel world for itself. Life is controlled and optimized, and the desire to have children is also not left to chance. The lives of a successful young couple are therefore put under close scrutiny by a female assessor over the course of seven days.
Kevin Ward reviewedJune 30, 2025
The Assessment is a thought-provoking Lo-fi Sci-fi drama that imagines a future where reproduction is no longer a right but a privilege—strictly controlled by the state to conserve dwindling resources like clean air, food, and fresh water. In this world, couples must undergo a rigorous seven-day government evaluation to determine their “worthiness” to become parents.
Elizabeth Olsen and Himesh Patel play Mia and Aaryan, a couple selected for one such trial. Enter Alicia Vikander, chillingly effective as Virginia, their live-in assessor. She doesn’t just observe from afar—she embeds herself in their home and roleplays their potential future child, staging a series of challenges to test their parenting instincts. One moment she’s throwing a tantrum; the next, she’s refusing to eat her food or making a mess of the living room. There’s even an IKEA-style build-a-playset challenge that pushes the couple’s communication skills and patience to the edge.
It’s often uncomfortable, sometimes absurd, and yet disturbingly accurate. Seeing childish behavior performed by an adult illuminates just how chaotic and unpredictable parenting can be, even when you’re doing your best.
The Assessment occasionally speaks to the larger moral cost of ceding personal freedoms to an authoritarian system. Should decisions about procreation be relinquished to government control. It’s rather absurd to think about a criteria that could be used to determine who is “ready to be a parent.” I don’t know that anyone is actually truly ready for making that leap. As a species we all just learn as we go. Entertaining, thought provoking and a beautiful looking film. Killer Minnie Driver cameo as well.