Much like Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch has a lot to say about what it means to be a woman in the twenty-first century. The crushing social expectations; the pressures of looking a certain way; the mental health black hole; the financial decision to opt in (or out) of motherhood. Because being a woman is complicated, conflicting and confusing. And, finally, cinema seems to be catching up with that idea.
Based on Rachel Yoder’s best-selling novel of the same name, the film centres around Mother (Amy Adams), an exhausted former artist whose life now revolved around her energetic two year old. Her Husband (Scoot McNairy) only stays for the weekend, getting to be the fun but absent parent who heads to the office for the duration of the week. This does not make for a strong sense of equilibrium in their relationship. As resentment, anger and tiredness build within Mother, she imagines that she is slowly transforming into a dog, running with the pack every night to de-stress and give in to her primal urges.
What Heller’s adapted script gets so fantastically right – from the offset – is the honest answers that Adams’ character wants to give to those around her who coo at her baby and ask her to essentially confirm how wonderful stay-at-home motherhood is. In monologuing about how awful she feels, devoid of adult interaction that doesn’t revolve around various baby clubs, we get a meaningful insight into how she has adapted her life. McNairy’s character, by contrast, is fantastically useless, unable to locate sippy cups and bath towels or to decipher that “I’m fine” does not, in fact, mean exactly that.
But this isn’t a film that bashing men. It’s simply highlighting the inequities that tend to sprout in new parenthood. Tellingly, Adams character is referred to as Mother whilst McNairy gets to remain as Husband. As Adams’ mental state begins to take over, we see her sprout a pus-filled tail, develop six additional nipples and dig in the garden to hide her kills. The local dogs seem to revere her, leaving an array of dead possums, rats and rabbits on her doorstep by way of paying homage. There are some mild gross-out body horror moments and one particularly shocking act of violence as Adams leans into her therianthropy, for want of a better word.
Adams is simply fantastic in the lead role. It feels like she is having fun with the more animalistic parts of the role – there’s a funny scene in which she and her son eat like hungry dogs in a local deli, causing shock and horror amongst the surrounding middle-class parents – whilst bringing levity to the message. Her impassioned speeches about how pregnancy physically changes a woman whilst altering the dynamic of both their marriage and how society sees them is a powerful reminder of the challenges of motherhood. Her emotional honesty about what it means to spend all day, every day in the company of a two-year-old feels entirely believable. Her isolation from former art industry colleagues manifests itself in a dog-barking outburst at a fancy restaurant. It’s both sad and compelling to watch.
The soundtrack adds to the dream-like nature of Mother’s dalliances with the neighbourhood pack. The light, airy voices of the likes of Aurora and Joanna Newsom make up part of the score. 
We are never quite certain if these night-time adventures are real or purely imagined. Mental health is a bitch. Motherhood has unleashed an entirely different side to our protagonist – one that she’s not even sure if she should embrace. The special effects are well done in terms of the additional hair and nipples. The first transformation feels a bit ropey but you can put that aside for the sheer joy of watching a real dog take over and glide through the empty streets, tongue flapping in the wind, exhilarated.
Nightbitch feels like one of those films that is going to divide audiences. It’s not a film that can ever be accused of being subtle. You’re either going to love the slightly shlocky, horror comedy approach that Heller takes or you won’t. You really have to lean into it and go along for the ride. One thing is certain, the message is not lost, thanks to a strong script and central performance from Amy Adams. Like Barbie and The Substance, it may have you wondering how women to get such a raw deal. It’s barking.
Nightbitch is screening at the London Film Festival and is due for release in UK cinemas on December 6.
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