A day in the life of Jane (Julia Garner), a college graduate and aspiring movie producer who has taken on a role as an assistant to a movie executive in New York as her first step on the ladder. 

The first thing to say about The Assistant is that whilst it runs at only eighty-seven minutes it is a draining, brutal and remorselessly depressing experience. 

The film starts at an obscenely early hour where Jane is collected from her home in Astoria and driven into the city. We then see her do all sorts of mundane jobs before anyone else makes it into the office. She prints and copies schedules for the day, turns on lights, computers, refills fridges with water. As the day goes on we see that every facet of her existence is filled with micro aggressions and abuses from the unseen executive. She takes every meal in the office, orders everyone else’s meals, refills drugs, clears paraphernalia, has to field angry calls from the wife as well as babysit his children when they are there. 

As Jane’s concerns begin to mount and the pressure builds she decides to go and speak to a HR representative (Matthew MacFadyen) and in the best scene in the film sees the scale of the problem she faces. 

Written and directed by Kitty Green this is a brave and brutal film featuring a strong performance from Julia Garner who people will recognise from Ozark. Given the fall of Harvey Weinstein it makes you wonder how insidious the entire movie industry might be. 

But I can not say I enjoyed my experience or would want to watch it again! A film to be admired rather than enjoyed perhaps. If you want the more approachable version of this story then try Bombshell.