This article contains discussions of suicide, rape, infertility, and child death.
The Assessmentis one of the most plot-dense movies of 2025. On the surface, its plot setup is relatively simple. A couple, Mia (Elizabeth Olsen) and Aaryan (Himesh Patel), live on an isolated island in a near-future world where population growth is strictly controlled.
The movie earned a theatrical release in the United States, butonly made $279,328 during its run.It recently premiered on streaming, however, where audiences are rediscovering it asThe Assessmentjumps the charts.
The real world has seen extreme methods of control in a population-insecure world, but this universe offers something different. Anyone living in the “New World” who wants to become a parent is strictly assessed for their parental fitness.
Mia and Aaryan’s assessor, Virginia (Alicia Vikander), is responsible for creating some of the most shocking scenes of this movie. Covering themes such as infertility, food insecurity, and innovation, while unwinding some unusual interpersonal relationships,The Assessmentcrafts a unique sci-fi storyline.
As with the film itself,the ending goes in some unexpected places.Aaryan, Mia, and Virginia follow divergent paths, none of which may be truly fulfilling for them.
Virginia’s Role Was More Nefarious Than It Seemed
The Assessment Was Always Going To Fail
The vast majority ofThe Assessmentis confined to Aaryan and Mia’s island home. Even when other characters are introduced, the world descends upon them as Virginia invites people to attend a dinner party. For this reason, one of the most jarring shifts comes at the end, when Mia tracks down Virginia in her home.
Virginia’s New World life is not at all what Mia might have imagined; she lives in a cramped, unappealing apartment that is far off from the sprawling home Mia herself is used to. Virginia reveals several key aspects of her story, and of the Assessment itself.
Among the reveals is the fact thatVirginia herself had a daughter that she lost in a drowning accident.This backstory helps justify the water and drowning imagery seen throughout the film, which is now a clearer stand-in for Virginia’s grief (and Mia’s fear).
But tragically, it is also revealed that Virginia made a deal with the metaphorical devil (in this case, the totalitarian government) when becoming an assessor. She could get the chance to have her own child, but only if she, in turn, failed every couple she assessed, and she has been doing so for six years.
This revealheightens the futility of Aaryan and Mia’s plightfrom the entire film. Between her ridiculous assessment rules, child roleplay, and indefensible rape of Aaryan, Virginia had clearly been antagonistic for the entire film. Her ending twist, however, reveals the character’s motivations to be far darker.
Whether it be due to her own trauma or the unwanted pressure of being assigned to another couple to assess, Virginia cannot carry the weight of her past. Ultimately, she decides to take her own life, putting an end to her story and possibly to the assessment.
Aaryan Copes Through His Simulation Baby
But He Is More Isolated Than He Was At The Beginning
Loneliness is a key theme throughoutThe Assessment. The supposed New World may be a land of the elite and highly brilliant, but said high-class citizens are sectioned off, even in island communities. But at least Aaryan and Mia have each other. These changes occur in the end when Mia decides to leave. This choice leaves Aaryan, who has also been traumatized by the events, truly alone for the first time in years.
Ultimately, Aaryan copes using the only tools he knows how to: technological innovation. The character has been tooling around with a holographic simulation monkey throughout the film, before transitioning to a simulated human baby. Now,Aaryan lives in his home with that simulation babyas well as a similarly computer-generated version of Mia.
Mia’s Life Is Radically Changing, And She Could Die
Her Fate In The Old World Is Unknown
While Virginia makes an intense decision to kill herself, arguably the most radical choice in the film’s ending comes from Mia. Earlier in the movie, it is revealed that Mia’s own mother was exiled to the “Old World.” This area, separated from the intellectual elite, is warned to be a land of chaos and debauchery.
But as much as the Old World represents second-class citizens and instability, it also stands in for freedom. Ultimately,Mia decides to cede the physical comforts of her New World lifefor the liberation that the Old World offers.
But as much as the Old World represents second-class citizens and instability, it also stands in for freedom
Dressed in a hazmat suit as she crosses the threshold to the Old World,Mia’s ending is the film’s most ambiguous.If the Old World is as biohazardous and unruly as the New World government warns, Mia could soon be meeting her demise. These Old World warnings could, however, be myths perpetuated by the New World government.
The Real Meaning Of The Assessment
The Assessment Represents Control, But It Is Also Something Deeper
The centralizing narrative element is the titular Assessment. Most obviously, the Assessment is a metaphoric stand-in for extreme means taken by overbearing and/or totalitarian governments. Granted, there are implications that this is a government in the face of an extreme global crisis, but it is an intense measure.
As the characters reach their arcs' conclusions, however, The Assessment also takes on an emotional metaphor,representing desperation and injustice.Even if what Virginia does is wrong and self-serving, she does so out of a place of extreme grief and longing. Likewise, the way Aaryan copes post-assessment is a manner of working within the limited means that he still has.
The world ofThe Assessmentis ultimately incredibly unjust. There is no equality when people are divided into the New World and Old World, and there would be no truly fair way to evaluate parental fitness in an assessment. At its core, this movie transforms into a sci-fi story about what happens in the extremes of desperation and isolation, when connections are sparse and freedoms are limited.
