The Assistant (Kitty Green)

Of Desks and Men

Amir Siadat

I am not sure how I will remember The Assistant later. With desks and people behind them? Or with the anxious face of a girl who has not yet been able to sit behind her desk and settle into a routine? I think that the theme of the film is not so important as the relation of these two images, and the issue of Kitty Green - first of all - is depicting of an "environment" in which someone, unlike the others, has not been metamorphosed yet. The working environments are usually so full of everyday life that it is difficult to extract a story from them, unless you search for what is hidden behind the normal external image. For example, the story of a deskman whose position is promoted simply because he has a place to rent to the bosses (As is shown in Wilder`s Apartment). Employees are sometimes so immersed in their habits that - like Watanabe in To Live - they do not wake up except with the slap of death. The company in The Assistant is also one of those work environments with its own repetitions and routines. The music of such an environment is nothing but the sound of the printer and keyboard. From a point on, our ears even lose their sensitivity to the daily speech of Jane's colleagues, so that their "dialogues" are also reduced to meaningless sounds. So, if there is a conflict and drama, it should be found in the facial features of Jane, the person causing the disturbance, and not anywhere else. The static that dominates the atmosphere of the film comes from the passivity of the group, as if they have been sitting behind their desks for a long time, they have accepted that every day is the same and they cannot be pushed from behind the desk with moral flips (it is not unusual if the newcomer, Sienna, after taking her test at the hotel, is seen behind the desk later.) The inaction of this group is no less repulsive than the "action" of the boss, and their obedient presence in the absence of the boss has a flock-like impression. According to the story that continued in my mind after the ending, Jane's sensory eventually will fail and she will become a part of the environment. Right now, she is shocked and tormented because not more than five weeks have passed since she was hired. Those who taught her how to write "I overreacted" will eventually teach her the rest of the desk-siting manners. Should the filmmaker be criticized because her main character could not overcome the antagonist? I do not think so. It does not seem logical to expect rebellious action from such a fragile personality. Behind the camara of this story of "desks and people" is a filmmaker who, unlike Jane, has gone ahead, building her small and beautiful construction, despite the obstacles she has faced as a woman.