Nightbitch is an unsettling, surreal deconstruction of motherhood by Marielle Heller, and its star in this performance is as chilling as it is bizarre—Amy Adams. Based on a 2021 novel by Rachel Yoder, the movie is about a woman who has started to think she has transformed into a dog. This comedy horror, therefore, attempts to look at that wearisome, life-altering event that is motherhood in a strange yet disturbing way. Here is a closer look at how Nightbitch stands out and in what ways it falls short:
The Dull Life of Motherhood
Amy Adams plays “Mother” who is overwhelmed by the routine cycle of cooking, cleaning, and taking care of her two-year-old Son played by Arleigh Snowden. The monotony of life is highlighted in scenes such as her preparing endless rounds of frozen hash browns. It is this mundane life that gives the movie its cue, and it is defined by the exhaustion that gives the routine of Mother her life.
Mother’s frustrations start to manifest in weird ways as the movie moves on. She starts to feel a little odd, developing strange physical mutations: patches of fur on her back, a tail lump that looks like an actual tail, and even extra nipples on her belly. The surreal and terrifying aspect of the transformations is a metaphor for the deep, often hidden struggles that accompany motherhood. The movie shows that the physical toll of childbirth is so immense that a woman forgets who she is. But when these changes start to show, Mother has to deal with the reality of the situation: is she turning into something more primal?
Amy Adams: A Brazen Performance
Amy Adams delivers a raw and unfiltered performance. She shows no qualms in portraying Mother’s slide into madness. Whether shot in unforgiving close-ups, her face marked by exhaustion, or scampering on all fours, Adams brings a physicality to the role that mirrors the mental unraveling of her character. Her performance is un-Vain, embracing the ugly and strange nature of the transformation without any reservations. The freaky moments can easily feel justified because of the level of commitment to this character. As it gets weirder with its premise in some scenes, Nightbitch does seem driven by a lack of identity, that loss, particularly one tied so tightly with that of a mother, being another factor where people tend to lose identity in some aspect.
The movie also brings out the issue of how a woman, after giving birth to a child, becomes reduced to the state of some animal in which she feels more concerned about others rather than her wants and desires. The concept of sacrifice and giving is often throughout the movie but does not explain much. The development of Mother concerning her transformation leaves much to say concerning the metaphor.
The Other Characters
Amy Adams’ performance, however, is riveting; the others are a disappointment. The Husband, played by Scoot McNairy, is represented as rude and impotent. He travels to work and comes back to Mother without much of anything to offer but frustration. His character has not much meat to him except to reveal the isolation that Mother undergoes. Most developed in character, however, is ironically the Son, portrayed by Arleigh Snowden. While the child does bring a sense of life and complexity to the movie that the adults do not, it is as if his character seems completely realized, and indeed, he contrasts sharply with the empty figures around him.
A Film Shot into Repeated Rounds
Even though the movie is about motherhood and transformation, it begins to be repetitive in many places. Heller shows her points over and over: changes Mother undergoes in the physical body, frustration with life, and how dog-like she is getting. This repetition is sometimes effective but is a bit tiresome when continuing into the movie. This lack of new insight makes the narrative stagnate as if the film loops back in on itself.
Conclusion: A Weird, Alien Adventure
Nightbitch is pretty creepy and unsettling. And yet despite it having that lovely, powerful exploration of motherhood, identity, and transformation, the entire narrative doesn’t hold much depth to sustain those themes for much longer than this. Amy Adams makes an unflinching turn that can carry the film alone, but at its heart, the constantly reiterative narrative with undeveloped ideas fails to make this quite so earth-shattering. Overall, Nightbitch is one of those films that leaves one with more questions than answers, although its journey is more surreal than it is satisfying.
