The ᴀssessment is 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, but only made $279,328 during its run. It recently premiered on streaming, however, where audiences are rediscovering it as The ᴀssessment jumps 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 ᴀssessed for their parental fitness.

Mia and Aaryan’s ᴀssessor, 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 ᴀssessment crafts 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 ᴀssessment Was Always Going To Fail

The vast majority of The ᴀssessment is 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 ᴀssessment itself.

Among the reveals is the fact that Virginia 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 ᴀssessor. She could get the chance to have her own child, but only if she, in turn, failed every couple she ᴀssessed, and she has been doing so for six years.

This reveal heightens the futility of Aaryan and Mia’s plight from the entire film. Between her ridiculous ᴀssessment 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 ᴀssigned to another couple to ᴀssess, 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 ᴀssessment.

Aaryan Copes Through His Simulation Baby

But He Is More Isolated Than He Was At The Beginning

Loneliness is a key theme throughout The ᴀssessment. 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 baby as 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 life for the liberation that the Old World offers.

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 ᴀssessment

The ᴀssessment Represents Control, But It Is Also Something Deeper

The centralizing narrative element is the тιтular ᴀssessment. Most obviously, the ᴀssessment 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 ᴀssessment 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-ᴀssessment is a manner of working within the limited means that he still has.

The world of The ᴀssessment is 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 ᴀssessment. 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.