#226: Career Women, Pt. 2 — The Assistant

The Next Picture Show

Filmspotting

Tv & Film, Film History, Film Reviews

4.6 • 858 Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2020

⏱️ 80 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kitty Green’s recent day-in-the-life drama THE ASSISTANT, starring Julia Garner as a new assistant to a Weinstein-like executive, is nowhere near the crowd-pleaser Mike Nichols’ 1988 corporate Cinderella story WORKING GIRL was, and its scenario places the film squarely within a very current cultural conversation; but taken together the two films provide an apt illustration of what has and hasn’t changed for women in the workplace in the last three decades. After digging into our surprisingly divided opinions on THE ASSISTANT and its would-be sympathetic protagonist, we look at these two films together to consider what they tell us about the evolution of women’s role in the workplace, the importance of office allies, and what the characters’ working wardrobes say about their respective ambitions. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about WORKING GIRL, THE ASSISTANT, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Your Next Picture Show: Keith: Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz’s MESSIAH OF EVIL Genevieve: FX on Hulu’s MRS. AMERICA Scott: Chantel Akerman’s JEANNE DIELMAN, 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES Tasha: Mike Nichols’ CLOSER Outro music: TLC, “His Story” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present.
0:05.1	You believe that someone out of the past can enter and take possession of a living being?
0:11.9	We may be true with the past, but the past is not through with us.
0:19.8	Welcome back to the next picture show, a movie the week podcast about devoted to a classic film in the way it shaped our thoughts on a recent release.
0:26.4	I'm Scott Tobias here again with...
0:28.1	Genevieve Kosky.
0:29.1	Keith Phipps.
0:29.9	And Tasha Robinson.
0:31.2	In our last episode, we revisited Mike Nichols' Working Girl, about a Staten Island secretary who pulls herself out of the secretarial
0:38.2	pool. This week, we're talking about a film where powerlessness is the point, and any upward
0:43.5	mobility is tacitly connected to staying silent. In the minimalist performance and film that
0:48.8	recalls Delphine Searig and Jean Diehlman, Julia Garner stars in the assistant as Jane, a recent college graduate
0:55.9	with aspirations to become a film producer. But as a new assistant to a Harvey Weinstein-like
1:01.1	executive who never appears on screen, Jane quickly learns that she's in a toxic environment
1:05.9	and doesn't have the leverage to do anything about it. When she picks up on her boss's predatory behavior,
1:11.9	she tries to do the right thing and report it to the human resources rep,
1:15.4	played by Matthew McFadden,
1:17.0	but that conversation doesn't go as planned.
1:19.8	We'll talk about the lead-up and the fallout after the break.
1:32.8	The last two checks don't have a name or anything, just a dollar amount. Uh, if you ignore it.
1:34.3	Okay, and will he know what it's for?
1:36.3	Yep, he'll know.
	...

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