History Film / TheAssistant

* AdultFear: Jane and all of the other employees are subject to the whims of a petty tyrant who can destroy their careers for the smallest of infractions. They are forced to ignore or excuse his abuses out of ''necessity.''

* CountryMouse: Sienna, from Boise, is brought to New York to be the president's assistant/concubine.

%%* ModelScam: This happens to Sienna in particular, but is also suggested to be the principle behind the President's grooming tactics.

* AdamWesting: A very minor example has Patrick Wilson appear as "Famous Actor," who is oblivious to Jane and takes it for granted that he gets to go ahead of her.

* ModelScam: This happens to Sienna in particular, but is also suggested to be the principle behind the President's grooming tactics.

* WhiteCollarWorker: Everyone is a white collar worker in an ugly office building.
* YouWouldMakeAGreatModel: This happens to Sienna in particular, but is also suggested to be the principle behind the President's grooming tactics.

* BeneathNotice: Jane is treated as beneath notice by many random office people. One man seems to intentionally ignore her for several long moments whenever she arrives at his cubicle.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The film is obviously inspired by the recent Harvey Weinstein sex scandals.

* YourCheatingHeart: The President is cheating on his wife with numerous beautiful young women. She knows this, and she takes her frustration out on his assistants.

* WeHaveReserves: The HR man helpfully reminds Jane that they are four-hundred applicants ready and willing to take her position if she makes her accusations publics.

* FunctionalAddict: Jane's boss is implied to be one due to the enormous amount of prescription medication she places in his office desk.

* ExtremelyShortTimeSpan: The whole film takes place from early in the morning, probably around 4am, to around ten o' clock when Jane goes home.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Wilcock is clearly aware of and complicit in covering up the President's illicit activities, but he's not wrong when he points out that Jane has ''very'' circumstantial evidence that could easily be explained away. It underlines how difficult it is to challenge the President's position, even when you are working as his personal assistant, because even getting solid proof of misdeeds is not easy.

** The first thing we hear from Julia's boss is him unfairly castigating her over the phone and demanding that she write him an apology.

* TheGhost: We never see Jane's unnamed boss. He's usually not in his office, and when he is in, the door is closed or the camera is at an angle where he's not visible.

* TheVoice: Jane's boss, in [[TheCameo Creator/JayOSander's voice]] only appears as one, only berating Jane a couple of times on the phone.

* AmbiguousSituation: It's left deliberately ambiguous why Jane's boss compliments her. Does he genuinely trust her? Is he grooming her for some sort of sexual assault, or is he simply manipulating her to making sure she stays quiet?

*** Jane learns that her boss compliments her intelligence to his driver. He letter sends a reconciliation letter to her after chewing her out, telling her that he sees great things for her in the future. He's really just playing on her pride and ambition to control her and keep her silent.

* SleepingTheirWayToTheTop: Deconstructed a million ways. All of the President's staff (except Jane) that we see regard this as what the President's doing, but it pretty clearly runs the gamut between coercion and outright force.

* CountryMouse: Sienna, from Boise, is brought to New York to be the president's assistant/concubine.

* PetTheDog: Subverted several times:
** The male assistants help Jane craft her apology letters to their boss. They're helping her, but they're also reinforcing the office's poisonous culture. They also invite her to go out for drinks with them when they leave work, knowing that she still has to keep working for hours. She doesn't even respond to them.
** Jane learns that her boss compliments her intelligence to his driver. He letter sends a reconciliation letter to her after chewing her out, telling her that he sees great things for her in the future. He's really just playing on her pride and ambition to control her and keep her silent.
* PunchclockVillain: The main thrust of the film is that virtually everyone in the office knows about the president's predatory behavior and is complicit to it through inaction.

* WhiteCollarWorker: Everyone is a white collar worker in an ugly office building.

* NevertrustATrailer: The film's trailer makes it out to be a thriller, when it's actually a very minimalist drama. This certainly didn't help its reception by audiences.

* PetTheDog: Subverted in the way that the male assistants help Jane craft her apology letters to their boss. They're helping her, but they're also reinforcing the office's poisonous culture. They also invite her to go out for drinks with them when they leave work, knowing that she still has to keep working for hours. She doesn't even respond to them.
* PunchclockVillain: The main thrust of the film is that virtually everyone in the office is knowing and complicit about the president's predatory actions but does nothing about it.

* RealLifeHasNoSubtitles: When Jane escorts a group of Chinese investors, they speak among themselves without subtitles, as Jane can't understand a word of it and they have nothing to say to her.

* SlifeOfLife: The events in the film are deliberately unextraordinary.