Elizabeth Olsen and Alicia Vikander co-star

In the future, as described in Fleur Fortuné's gripping but uneven debut The evaluationAn environmental catastrophe has devastated the planet. A border divides the old world from the new, where people like Mia (Elizabeth Olsen) and Aaryan (Himesh Patel) live under strict rules. Properties are enclosed in atmospheric pressure domes, protecting homes from even more unpredictable elements. The government, an omnipresent surveillance state, monitors daily life: doling out vitamins to control lifespans, conscripting people to build technologies, and conducting research to secure a sustainable future for society and dissidents exiled across the border. It also controls the population by subjecting citizens who want to have children to a grueling seven-day evaluation overseen by a random state agent.

Details about the exam are scant (transparency is not the modus operandi), and everyone, including Mia and Aaryn, thinks they would make great parents. When their examiner, Virginia (an excellent Alicia Vikander), hears this, she lets out a chuckle of amusement. It shakes up this successful, overprepared couple, who they say are eager to raise the next generation of their company. Mia conducts research on sustainable food while Aaryn tinkers with artificial intelligence in an attempt to create highly lifelike pets. (Her current obstacle involves the texture of fur.) They live in a tastefully decorated, minimalist abode fit for a creative couple in Marfa (set design by Jan Houllevigue), and they wear the kind of underwear and turtlenecks desired by wealthy Silicon Valley technologists (costume design by Sarah Blenkinsop).

The evaluationpremiered at the Toronto Film Festival, is most compelling when it focuses on how this seemingly perfect couple proves their worth to the state. Virginia's presence changes the mood of the house, giving it a more tense and sinister feel. The overly professional examiner begins the exam with basic biographical questions before slipping, with deceptive ease, into the role of a child. Her performance confuses Mia and Aaryan at first, but they soon assume their roles, too.

In these moments, The evaluation becomes a gripping psychological chamber drama about the surrender of parenting egos. It also deftly reveals how parenting styles are shaped by a person’s past and insecurities. When Virginia refuses breakfast in favor of a nervous breakdown, Mia and Aaryan’s reactions—discipline versus capitulation—tell us more about them than any quiz show.

Within the confines of the house, Olsen, Patel and Vikander are stellar. Their performances require them to balance two roles: Olsen and Patel are not only a power-seeking couple, but new parents to Vikander, who is both a “child” and the arbiter of their fate. Vikander is particularly compelling in a part that requires her to wield and switch between one kind of power and another. Some of the strongest scenes in The evaluationwritten by the writing duo Mr. & Mrs. Thomas and playwright John Donnelly, sees Virginia pretend to be a child, testing her parents’ will and playing against their desire to win her affection. One surprising incident involves an impromptu dinner party, where Mia and Aaryan must prepare to host their parents, friends and acquaintances, while balancing Virginia’s increasingly childish behavior. Fortuné directs that scene with confidence, conveying the panic that ensues as parents juggle the demands of raising another human being with the social pressure to stay calm.

Over the course of seven days, Virginia finds new and unique ways to break Mia and Aaryan’s will. The test becomes an all-encompassing exercise, forcing the couples to confront themselves and their reasons for wanting a child. Virginia then becomes a mirror to Mia and Aaryan, past and present. Through their interactions and performances, they confront painful memories and deep-seated anxieties. The results are both terrifying and gripping.

At best, The evaluation cleverly 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 broadens its scope and tries to incorporate last-minute world-building. Leaving Mia and Aaryan's home raises questions about their society that the film doesn't have time to answer. Deserved attention is lost when our attention shifts to trying to understand the construction of the new world and its relationship to the old one. Previously strained interpretations crumble as a result of this extension, and the story meanders toward a conclusion weighed down by false depth. Toward the end, The evaluation it's starting to feel like a much less compelling story than the one we've just spent an hour and a half immersed in.