'The Assistant' DVD: Hell Hath No Fury Like a Mother Scorned

The Icarus Films March 13, 2018 DVD release of the 2015 French thriller "The Assistant" is notable for several reasons. The first aspect that makes this one to watch is that it is the second (in hopefully an ongoing series) of Icarus releases of outstanding distraught parent dramas from arguably the leading country in European film. The first is the (reviewed) docudrama "In Her Name," which is based on the real-life decades-long effort of a father to see the man who rapes and kills his teen daughter held accountable for those crimes.

The second incredible aspect of "Assistant" is Nathalie Baye, who plays the titular secretary. This Gallic version of over-rated Meryl Streep has four Cesars awards, 8 other trophies, 14 additional nominations, and 102 IMDb credits. "Assistant" not netting Baye at least one more trophy is atrocious.

It is even more amazing that Baye is 67 when she films "Assistant" but does not look a day over 50. One can only hope that Baye lets the rest of us in on the secret regarding the enchanted portrait that she must have in her attic.

The larger level is the "Assistant," which screams for an American remake, is a prime example of the late '80s and early '90s Hitchcock homages on this side of the Atlantic. The general theme in films such as "Fatal Attraction" is that an innocent only learns of the crazy of the new person in his or he life after it is too late to easily rid yourself of him or her.

An equally relatable Hitchcockian twist on this in "Assistant" is the aspect of being held accountable for largely forgotten past sins. Folks whose youthful (or not-so-youthful) indiscretions have a figurative (and hopefully not literal) body count may want to give the new tenant in the apartment next door or the overly friendly guy at the gym closer scrutiny. This is especially so considering that the Internet facilitates tracking down everyone.

Nine years before she begins aiding aptly named urban planner Thomas Lemans, Marie-France is the loving mother of late-teens son Sebastian, who dies in a hit but not run with Thomas. This accident occurs while Thomas is rushing his wife Audrey to the hospital to give birth to son Leo.

Thomas does not know that Marie-France is the grieving mother of Sebastian when she becomes his temporary assistant in the present period of the film. Although "Assistant" does not address this, speculating that Marie-France injures the permanent assistant to create this temp. assignment is plausible.

Marie-France soon uses her proximity to Thomas to mess with him and his team at work and to increasingly become part of his home life with Leo. Describing Marie-France as not respecting boundaries is an incredible understatement.

The manipulation by Marie-France includes orchestrating things so that she first becomes a regular baby sitter of Leo and later formally joins the family. The aforementioned talent of Baye really comes through as her calm and friendly persona remains intact as she steps up her game to the climax that builds through roughly the entire second half of the film.

It is equally awesome that writer-director Christophe Ali avoids EVERY cliche of a psycho-chick on a mission of vengeance film. Marie-France conducts her puppet show in which the entire Lemans family is the marionettes virtually undetected until someone ends up with a cracked skull or a blade to the gut. Even then, no one suspects her history with the clan until roughly the final 10 minutes of the film. However, even that does not lead to a frantic chase around Chez Lemans.

Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Assistant" is strongly encouraged either to email me or to connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.