The Assistant(2020)

R
Rated R for some language
1h 27m
- Drama

Release Date: Jan 31, 2020 | Limited

A searing look at a day in the life of an assistant to a powerful executive. As Jane follows her daily routine, she grows increasingly aware of the insidious abuse that threatens every aspect of her position.

Releases

Original Release | Jan 31, 2020

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Box Office Results

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$79,141
Total US & Canada:
$1,100,313
Total International
$238,568
Total Worldwide:
$1,338,881

Current Showtimes

Your Location or

(U.S. Only)

Director & Top Cast

Kitty Green
Director

Caranita Harrelson
Actor

Technical Specifications

Aspect Ratio: 2.00 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English,Mandarin,Spanish

Summaries

Plot Summary

The film takes place over the course of a single day in the life of Jane (Julia Garner), a junior assistant who has been working at a film production company in New York City for five weeks. Jane arrives well before dawn and performs various menial administrative tasks (turning the lights on, changing the coffee filters, printing materials for the day's presentations, arranging office supplies, removing stains from the bosses's office couch). Her job's long hours and demanding tasks keep her busy and incredibly stressed. Her boss calls her and yells at her for talking to his wife or his affairs and filling their minds with nonsense. During a phone call with her mother, Jane learns that she forgot to call her father on his birthday.As Jane's day progresses, it becomes clear that her boss (Purva Bedi) has been having sex in his office with many younger women and facilitating a culture of sexual harassment at the company. Many of the male executives make snide comments about the boss's affairs while the female executives handle their own workloads and discuss the possibility of transferring to other departments. Whenever Jane does something her boss deems a mistake, he verbally abuses her over the phone as her two male junior assistant coworkers (Jon Orsini and Noah Robbins) watch silently. Throughout the day, a variety of people from the boss's life interact with Jane, including his wife, his children's nanny, a famous actor, and a group of Chinese film producers.In the afternoon, a young, inexperienced woman named Sienna (Kristine Froseth) arrives from Idaho, saying she has been offered a job as a junior assistant. Jane, concerned for Sienna's well-being, goes to the human resources department to file a report after dropping Sienna off at a five-star hotel being paid for by the company (Jane never got any company paid accommodation when she started and she knows that Sienna has been brought in to be her boss's new fling). The boss is shown to have mid-day sex affairs called "personals" (it is implied that the boss is with Sienna at the hotel, having sex with her), during which he frequently blows off client meetings. Jane has to lie to his wife (when she calls) and say that she doesn't know where he is.Wilcock (Matthew Macfadyen), the head of HR, encourages Jane to share her concerns, but later (when Jane says that she knows the boss is probably sexually assaulting Sienna at the hotel) makes it clear that he is turning a blind eye to her harassment claims, before demeaning her, speaking down to her, and stating she is jealous (a new inexperienced, pretty girl was offered an assistant position, and put up at a fancy hotel, while Jane never got that kind of treatment). He also discloses that filing a formal complaint would destroy Jane's career.As Jane leaves his office, he reminds her that she has nothing to worry about, as Jane is not the boss's "type". Visibly upset, Jane receives a call from her boss when she returns to her desk. He has been informed about the report which was not filed and demands Jane write an email apology addressed to him, which she does. He replies saying that he is especially hard on Jane because he knows how great she is.Toward the end of the day, Sienna arrives at the office so Jane can teach her how to use the phone systems. As night falls, Jane prepares a microwave dinner for herself while other employees leave; her boss stays late in his office with a young actress. He calls Jane on the intercom and tells her to go home. Jane goes to a coffee shop across the street and calls her father as she eats a muffin. After she hangs up, she sees a silhouette in her boss's window appearing to have sex.

Storyline

Follows one day in the life of Jane (Julia Garner), a recent college graduate and aspiring film producer, who has recently landed her dream job as a junior assistant to a powerful entertainment mogul. Her day is much like any other assistant's - making coffee, changing the paper in the copy machine, ordering lunch, arranging travel, taking phone messages, onboarding a new hire. But as Jane follows her daily routine, she, and we, grow increasingly aware of the abuse that insidiously colors every aspect of her work day, an accumulation of degradations against which Jane decides to take a stand, only to discover the true depth of the system into which she has entered. — Bleecker Street