The Assessment examines two basic problems plaguing the human race: the longing to reproduce and the desire for more than what you have. This grim drama looks at the ultimate outcome of those two human traits.

The Assessment is set in a world ruined by climate change and over population. A select few live chemically prolonged lives, forever young in a domed environment. If couples want to raise a child, they must apply to the state. An assessor – here it’s Virginia (Alicia Vikander) – comes to determine if they are worthy of becoming parents.

Mia is a biologist who raises plants, bugs, and algae for food. Aaryan works with AI to create artificial pets, since all pets were eliminated due to food shortages.

Mia (Elizabeth Olsen) and Aaryan (Himesh Patel) are the couple who invite the assessor into their home. They live in a cold, sterile home made of concrete and plastic. Mia’s greenhouse is a long walk from the home. Aaryan’s laboratory is a dark room where he verbally issues coding changes to an AI. It’s rocky and barren outside, except there is a large body of water nearby where Mia swims daily. There are no fish or plants in the water. Just clear water.

At first Virginia seems like a put together adult who will be looking at the couple and their home for suitability. She announces she’s staying for a week, and any decision she makes will be final.

By the second day, Virginia is acting like a petulant child. She’s demanding and destructive. This is apparently how people are tested to see how they handle petulant, demanding children. It’s gross and hard to watch an adult act that way. Alicia Vikander manages to be genius level at acting awful.

The testing process is full of dirty tricks and booby traps. Mia and Aaryan fail some and win some.

Slowly we learn there’s an “old world” outside the dome where people live on the crisply fried earth and age normally. By the end of the week, things have pretty much turned into hell before Virginia delivers the ruling and leaves.

Just when we think the story is over, there’s a long coda. It’s an attempt to add some empathy and understanding to the characters and their decisions and show how the assessment process destroys people and lives.

Fleur Fortuné directed the film. I found it unpleasant to watch. It’s hard to face the ultimate consequences that climate change and over population might bring. The film isn’t meant to be pleasant, it’s meant to be thought provoking and to encourage discussion. So, in that sense, it’s a success. You can see it streaming on Hulu.