The Assistant is a 1998 drama film directed by Daniel Petrie and starring Gil Bellows, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Joan Plowright, and Kate Greenhouse. It is based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Bernard Malamud and was also the final theatrical film directed by Petrie before his death in 2004. It follows a young man who finds work at a shop at the turn-of-the-century, and falls in love with the owner's daughter, inflaming deeply religious origins. Filming took place in Toronto.