Amy Adams in Nightbitch. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
In Nightbitch, the combination of the incomparable Amy Adams and the incomparable director Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) gives us something not quite incomparable, but shockingly unique in our cultural landscape. This is a film which tells truths about parenting, and specifically motherhood. I say “truths” instead of “the truth” because I realize, as a single man with no children, I am not an expert on the subject in any way, shape, or form. Therefore, you are absolutely free to take my opinion with a grain of salt if the film does not end up speaking to your experience. However, Nightbitch also speaks to the broader cultural climate around the de-valuing of motherhood, and although that has precedents in cinema, it’s rarely been explored quite this way, with this much verve and pinpoint dark humor.
Adams stars as a mother (credited as “Mother”) to a rambunctious toddler (twins Arleigh and Emmett Snowden, credited as “Son”). He’s not necessarily a “problem child” or anything, he’s just a little too much for one person to handle, as most kids are at that age. As a husband and father, Scoot McNairy (credited as “Husband”) seems totally clueless to his wife’s struggles as he is often out of town for work. She had previously given up her promising career as an artist and art gallery worker to raise her son, but the stress of doing so mostly on her own has caught up with her. She never anticipated it would take away so much of her personhood.
Adapted from the novel of the same name by Rachel Yoder, Nightbitch deftly moves from domestic dramedy to the realm of body-horror fantasy when Mother begins experiencing strange physical changes. Among other things, her canine teeth get sharper, she develops a stronger and stronger taste for meat, and she notices excess hair growing in places where it normally does not grow on humans. In short, she believes she’s turning into a dog, especially at night. Some of this is imagined, some seems real, and that lack of perspective organization is an area where the film feels a little too off-kilter. However, the montages as the transformation slowly takes hold over days and weeks are as bold and hilarious as anything you’ll see this year — major kudos to editor Anne McCabe.
Mother also flashes back to her own mother (Kerry O’Malley) quite frequently during this crisis. Raised in a seemingly very orthodox religious community, Mother saw her own mother flee during the night, just as she’s doing in her own canine days. These flashbacks bring out a gentler side in the film. They make Mother feel less alone and help give her the confidence to finally verbalize her own needs.
When those needs are verbalized, despite the scenes being well-written and well-preformed, there are still things I wish had been said. Not specific lines, but I would have liked some insight as to what drew Mother and Husband together in the first place. Husband’s insensitivity feels realistic enough, but because we mainly only see that side of him, it’s hard to buy how the reconciliation comes. Still, it’s at least a more drawn-out process than just one conversation, and that felt realistic enough.
Where the movie shines brightest is in its depiction of how mothers judge each other, and how our culture around parenting makes all parents feel more alone than they actually are. Breaking through the monotony of judgment, Jessica Harper is terrific as Norma, a librarian who encourages and uplifts Mother. While it has its flaws, Nightbitch is an important call for solidarity in one of the world’s most important professions. | George Napper
Nightbitch was the closing-night film of the 2024 St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF). Further information about the films which were shown at the festival, as well as awards results, can be found on the festival website.
