By Jasneet Singh
Follow
Followed
Thread
Link copied to clipboard
Sign in to your Collider account

Even the most versatile actors have idiosyncratic quirks or behaviors that make them recognizable across their roles, and for Julia Garner, that is her somewhat expressionless approach to her performances. In Inventing Anna, this made her titular character calculating and her subsequent breakdowns jolting, while in Ozark, she ensures the guarded and foul-mouthed Ruth Langmore is not someone we want to mess with.
However, in her most recent role in Universal's monster reboot, Wolf Man, her "unemotive" style doesn't quite fit in, as per Collider's review, contributing to the film's middling reception. While it suffered in this 2025 horror, Garner's approach becomes the shining star of a 2020 drama, The Assistant, that ends up being far more terrifying than Wolf Man. She leads a haunting horror story of a female employee in an abusive relationship with her workplace, where the minimalism in her performance and throughout the film is provocative and enduring.
'The Assistant' Uses Minimalism to Create an Oppressive Workplace
The Assistant's premise is as simplistic and unadorned as its title: we follow Jane (Garner) throughout one eye-opening work day, as she is five weeks into her dream job and becoming more aware of the more underhanded elements at play. Through Kitty Green's minimalist direction, we watch Jane go about her daily office tasks and can already see the toll this environment has taken on her. The screen's colors are faded and as sapped of life as Jane is, emphasizing the monotony of her long hours. The film is framed closely from Jane's point of view, restricting our visual and auditory experience to hers. This already creates a claustrophobic and isolated environment, especially as many of the shots are defined by their stasis, with the movements remaining central, allowing us to focus on Jane's actions and expressions.
Related
"The Worse You Feel, The More Likely [It's] The Better Take": Julia Garner on the Bizarre Feeling of Making a Horror Movie
While on Collider Ladies Night, Garner revisited her first movie, her first Emmy and teased her first MCU film, 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps.'
It isn't just the visuals that craft an alienating effect, but the sound design too, as it is also uniquely intertwined with what Jane is prioritizing. Snippets of conversation either come into focus or fade away into garbled muted tones, and most notable are the office whispers that Jane strains to hear but are just outside of her cocoon. By honing in on Jane's experience in this sensory way, The Assistant creates a profound and gripping atmosphere where we can viscerally feel the idea of women being shunned in male-dominated workplaces. It makes the more overt scenes of people giving her pointed looks for being in the way, or not acknowledging her as she is the last one entering or exiting elevators and rooms, more palpable. Jane powerfully conveys the binary experience of a corporate woman: she is either taking up too much space, or doesn't exist in it.
Garner's Performance Reflects Women in Male-Dominated Fields
The Assistant's tense atmosphere hinges on Garner's performance, filled with restraint and tautness that reflects the way women often obscure their emotions in the workplace. When Jane faces verbal abuse from her boss, Garner's poker face is only disrupted by mere whispers of frustration and fear. Her deadpan expression somehow conveys more dread than any animated one could when the phone rings as well, especially as her two male colleagues hold their breath as they watch. They help her write her apology emails while also handing over more "womanly" tasks of talking to the boss's wife and taking care of a guest's child to her — even her equals have a vaguely condescending attitude toward her, intentional or not. She takes the verbal abuse and condescension with tired eyes and tight lips, reflecting how women put up with this sort of corporate toxicity that everyone perceives but is eager to ignore, especially to avoid being labeled as “over-reacting” or “emotional.” .
Garner's performance culminates in the scene with HR, where Wilcock (Matthew Macfadyen) mocks her concerns, but simply says he is looking out for her. He taps into corporate female stereotypes of women being in competition with each other in the workplace, especially when a "younger" woman is hired, twisting them against her to silence her complaint. Emotion cascades into her watery eyes as we feel her breaking, but like her, we know if she cries she will be further belittled. So, she remains powerfully expressionless, only allowing it to trickle into her eyes. But Wilcock's most significant line, “you’re not his type anyway,” thrown in carelessly as an afterthought, seals the patriarchal system of the company that is impossible to fight against. It encapsulates the prevailing sentiment of men getting away with egregious acts while women are supposed to bear it.
But that's not even the scariest part of The Assistant. After the slow-burn paranoia, dismal outcomes and clutching at the potential for a career, the film leaves us with one last daunting note. Ultimately, this was simply one mundane day for a woman in a patriarchal company — it's just her everyday reality.
The Assistant is available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.
Your Rating
Rate Now 0/10
Your comment has not been saved
