The Assessment

Probably one of the most impressive directorial debuts I’ve seen as of late. It’s honestly astonishing for how much of an ambitious debut this film was for Fortune to be able to pull it off and execute so well. For how odd and dystopian this film is, it still feels so grounded and thought provoking, conveying many themes about parenting and humanity in such a realistic way for still being a sci-fi film which is one thing I want to talk about later and how this dystopian world plays into conveying a message about societies and their values as well as morals. To start off, the first thing about this film that stuck out from the get go was the cinematography. Perhaps one of the most visually striking films of 2025. The color grading has a sort of warm quality to it that I enjoyed and the assortment of colors in the settings and places kinda helped build this more distopic and weird atmosphere Fleur was trying to create in this one. Another thing I feel helped with the atmosphere was the score. In a way it quietly adds to this disturbing and uncomfortable nature of the the film and keeps you on your toes a bit. Even that little slightly off bell that rings when the screen of what day in the assessment it is pops up just adds to the tone of this film that always has something more intense lurking around the corner. The performances from the cast and well were great all around, especially from Elizabeth Olsen. She perfectly encapsulates motherhood in a bottle with her dynamic performance throughout this film. Calm on the outside to impress everyone, But subtly an anxious mind trying not slip out in such intense situations. Vikander was also great in her performance, making her character convey this balance and tug of war of humane guilt for her actions but also manipulating robotic behavior submitting to the horrid personality her role has gave her. Not to get to the narrative, the thing it obviously hits on the head the most is the challenges of parenting. Fortune with this deranged society she creates, tells the struggles of parenting in quite an intriguing way with the husband and wife being put through a rigorous assessment to see whether they are fit to be parents. In this film I caught many obstacles of being a parent this film touched on. For one, a challenge is being patient with your child. Often times, they act bratty and annoying nonstop without remorse which makes it easy to just decide to yell at them or act on impulse at them. But as a parent you must be gentle and patient with them because all of those acts of anger and frustration towards them can inflict trauma on them. It can make the child no longer trust you with their struggles because they fear you’ll just lash out instead of being understanding. Those little moments of outburst parents have on kids have more weight than you think because they can do irreversible damage to the relationship between the parent and child Another thing this film touches on with the complexities of parenting is managing your child’s needs with your personal ones. Often times parents have to put their own needs and problems aside to tend to their kids ones since kids often very needy. It seems very inconvenient (which it is) but that just speaks volumes to the type of commitment it takes of being a parent. Besides the most important part of the film with the thought provoking messages of parenting struggles, one thing that interested me the most was this sort of sci-fi world created and the test they put everyone through In order to be parents. This rigid and near impossible test begs you to ask the question whether the test is morally despicable and wrong or just a plain fair assessment to see how fit they are to be Mother and father. If you asked for my answer I’d say it’s in a way a mix of both. While some of the challenges these two go through in the assessment are a bit insane, most of them aren’t far off on what raising a child is like. Maybe all the events don’t happen this intensely and subsequently, but in a way I think it still teaches some valuable lessons about parenting. It shows them how to handle situations under pressure, grow more critical thinking and test how far the unconditional love for their child would go. However though, as I said, I do think this test does push over the line of morally unacceptable. Putting people through this pain physically and mentally is not necessary or right to do just for a parenting assessment. While it does test their fit for parenting to a very large extent, it goes to an extent that’s very inconsiderate of the two’s well being. Some may say that’s the very problem with the premise of the movie, I think it drives home a very significant point about certain moral principles people and society tend to put In place It shows how some people tend to put their needs over others out of selfishness to some extent. See while this test is told to be put in place to see who will be the best parents for this society, that is to some way a bit of a manipulative tactic to get people to believe the test is morally correct and ok. While doing this test does benefit society a bit, it also ruins people and deteriorates their spirit as people and deteriorates their mental as well as physical being. But the leaders don’t care about that and only care about their own wants and goals for the society which not only conveys why this world in the film is seen as “dystopian” but also holds true and realistic to a lot of toxic, manipulative and self centered governments and individuals today. To wrap it up in the shortest manner, by far length a very impressive debut and one of, if not my favorite of the year so far. 2025 Releases Ranked