“I don’t enjoy the company of other moms,” Amy Adams’ unnamed character says towards the beginning of Marielle Heller’s boldly original film, Nightbitch. “I find being friends over having kids to be pathetic.”
Every day, Mother wakes up, makes Baby his breakfast, and longs for when Father (Scott McNairy) returns home from his week-long business trips so she can get a break from the monotony. Breakfast, playtime, no rest. Breakfast. Tyke Time. No sleep. It feels like Mother has had no time to rest her eyes for herself since she takes care of Baby full time, and she has to ensure that he grows up to be a healthy and happy child. When Father does come home, it’s almost as if Mother has two children instead of one as he seems incapable of performing menial tasks around the house or cannot understand why there is no milk in the refrigerator. Heller’s film dives right in, and it feels like we are on the fastest, highest rollercoaster without being buckled firmly in our seat.
Like in Rachel Yoder’s 2021 novel, Mother begins to sense that she is becoming a dog. At first, her child tells her that her lower back is fuzzy, but then she suspects that, maybe, her canine teeth feel sharper or more pronounced. Could it be possible that something is taking hold of Mother that she never anticipated or that she has been ignoring? Has society told her that mothers need to constantly worry about what other mothers are doing or what “the right books” say about parenting a child? What exactly is a good mother? Perhaps we need to listen to the primal growling inside of us that swipes away the pressures of perception.
“I am an animal,” Adams’ character says defiantly–a line that made some audiences raise their eyebrows when the trailer debuted a week or so ago. There has been a lot of questioning whether she character actually transforms into a dog or it’s just in her head, but the film smartly doesn’t dwell on this. It’s not about that because this is a film about not apologizing about declaring your own assured power. It’s primal–it’s dangerous–and Adams nearly trembles with excitement at the possibility of her own mental and emotional transformation. When Mother and Baby see a pack of dogs at the playground and they decide to chase after them, Mother’s laugh is joyous and unexpected. It’s almost as if she is hearing herself laugh for the first time in months. In that moment, too, she is Nightbitch, rollicking in the grass like a dog on a bright, sunny day.
There is a nuanced undercurrent of resentment in the marriage between Mother and Father. Did they fall into roles that they grew up seeing and what the world expected of them? How do you say no or resist that? Even though Mother shows resistance to other mothers, she joins a small group consisting of Zoe Chao, Archana Rajan, and Mary Holland. Every time I thought I knew where those scenes were going, it went the opposite direction. Jessica Harper’s calm demeanor as a helpful librarian is a highlight.
As Adams tape into something startlingly funny and broad in some sequences (sharing a meal of meatloaf like a pooch with her son to horrific eyes of other supermarket patrons), the hunger inside of Mother yanks at her like a dog testing the limits of a chain tied too tightly in the backyard. The more she tugs, the more likely it is that the chain will break. Adams has always been a performer with a natural, amiable presence, but she snarls and snaps in ways like we have never seen. It’s a undeniably exuberant performance that we will be talking about for years to come. She chews into every pounce, every thoughtful, considerable monologue given to her from Heller’s script.
“I was once a girl then a woman then a bride and a mother–now this,” Mother says, expressing her disappointment. Nightbitch‘s verve and confident direction feels like the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential of how every woman feels inhibited in their own home as they try to figure out what is best for them and their family. If everyone answered the call of the wild, just think of what our world would look like. Nightbitch is daring and fearless.
Nightbitch is set to release in theaters on December 6.
Need Nightbitch this to make 2 or 3 billion dollars so that some enterprising producer attempts to cinematize the animal-mother dimension of Ducks, Newburyport. I hereby pledge to see Nightbitch at least 15 million times in theaters. Who will match my pledge?
Still think the Oscar is Madison’s to lose