The Assessment
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: March 21, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
ColliderIsabella SoaresSep 13, 2024
Though powered by incredible performances and worldbuilding, what truly leads The Assessment to have an exceptional final product is its refreshingly original premise. The script, written by John Donelly, Nell Garfath Cox, and Dave Thomas, takes full advantage of the sci-fi genre to tap into relevant topics such as climate change, parenthood, and elitism. Read full review
83
IndieWireChristian ZilkoSep 13, 2024
A compelling genre thriller that manages to build a world that feels both genuinely new and depressingly realistic if human society goes too far down the wrong path. Read full review
80
Film ThreatAndy HowellOct 9, 2024
The film gets points for style, boldness, and an innovative science fiction setup. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 13, 2024
Opinions may divide about the extended coda that Fortuné gives her story but it is evidence that she is ambitious for something that eludes so many film-makers: an ending. It’s a stylish debut. Read full review
75
Film ThreatKent HillApr 2, 2025
It is the show-stealing performance of Alicia Vikander that brings everything together. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireMar 21, 2025
The first feature from the longtime music video director has a ton of style, and signals from the beginning her confident use of framing, texture and color. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 13, 2025
The Assessment is smart and sinister sci-fi of “The Handmaids Tale” school, a striking, minimalist parable about humanity’s failings in facing an inhumane future. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 20, 2025
The ideas are there. Or at least mostly there. The performances are first-rate, particularly those of Vikander and Olsen, waging a war of wills — the tension is palpable. Maybe the payoff just can’t match the build-up. Read full review
70
VarietyStephen SaitoSep 13, 2024
Even when The Assessment goes beyond its smaller scale, it has a lot on its mind throughout and Fortuné ably balances the cerebral with the emotional. Read full review
67
The Film StageJared MobarakSep 13, 2024
And while the inevitable devolution of Mia and Aaryan’s union under the stress of this assessment and their respective truths hidden beneath their ideal of love is dramatic, it’s Virginia who steals the show. Not because she’s an absurdly insane character that Vikander knocks out of the park, but because there’s a reason for her intensity. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineWilliam RepassMar 17, 2025
The Assessment works its way through intriguing conundrums about the motivations and qualifications of parenthood, as well as the power dynamics at play between parents and children. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleMar 28, 2025
As with a lot of filmmakers transitioning to long-form narrative after success with bite-sized flash, “The Assessment” is a commanding mood piece until our thirst for deeper emotional and thematic resonance reveals its shortcomings. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisMar 20, 2025
A sterile drama about state-controlled procreation, “The Assessment,” the first feature from the French director Fleur Fortuné, is visually stark and emotionally chilling. Read full review
60
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiSep 19, 2024
The Assessment, directed by Fleur Fortuné, is conceptually sound and looks incredible, but while it’s psychologically involved and provoking, it doesn’t go beyond the surface of its ideas. Read full review
60
TheWrapSteve PondSep 13, 2024
There are things to admire in the visual design and in the way a small group of accomplished actors submit to this quiet horror show, but cold, begrudging admiration is about all the admittedly stylish film is designed to elicit. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeSep 13, 2024
At its best, The Assessment smartly taps into and maintains its focus on the near universal anxiety about parenting in a world made increasingly uninhabitable by overconsumption and climate change. But the film loses its way when it widens its scope and tries to incorporate eleventh-hour world-building. Read full review
58
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodSep 13, 2024
Sure, Vikander and Olsen are superb as Mia has to constantly stop herself from wringing Virginia’s neck, but the whole endeavor increasingly feels flat. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 13, 2024
The picture has been worked out on a visual level — the immaculately sterile images evoke a future in which life’s pleasures, like having a family, have been wiped clean — but the script never explores those deeper themes. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyMay 8, 2025
There’s a kernel of philosophical intrigue in The Assessment, encased in a sleek shell of dystopian science fiction, and unfortunately flung a million miles away from audience engagement. Read full review
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