Plot Summary: A stay-at-home mother who fears she may be turning into a dog becomes increasingly isolated while her husband travels for work, leading her to embrace her feral tendencies as a form of liberation.
Director: Marielle Heller
Screenplay: Marielle Heller
Based on: Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
Producers: Anne Carey, Thiago Andreo Barbosa Nogueira, Marielle Heller, Sue Naegle, Christina Oh, Amy Adams, Stacy O'Neil
Cinematography: Brandon Trost
Editor: Anne McCabe
Music: Nate Heller
Starring:
Amy Adams as Mother
Scoot McNairy as Husband
Arleigh and Emmett Snowden as Son
Jessica Harper as Norma
ZoΓ« Chao as Jen
Mary Holland as Miriam
Archana Rajan as Liz
***SPOILER ALERT***
This Movie Gets It
The 2025 BFI London Film Festival is just about over, so I decided to dig back into last year's 68th festival and review a bunch of stuff I missed. I saw the 2024 winner, Memoir of a Snail, and it was... fine. I enjoyed it, but it didn't exactly blow my mind. So, I'm doing a theme week: 7 movies from BFI 2024. First up is Nightbitch, and I'm not gonna lie, I picked it just because I love that name.
Turns out, this movie hit way too close to home. After doing some research, it deeply resonated with me and my wife. In so many ways, we are the couple portrayed in this film, and my wife is definitely the "Nightbitch" (in the canine sense of the word). The whole thing comes from the director, Marielle Heller, and her own personal hell. She found the book when she'd just had her second kid, was "very isolated" during the pandemic while her husband was away, and felt like she was "slightly losing her mind." She said it was just like after her first child: "really isolating, really hard," to the point where she "forgot how to talk to people."
This is exactly how my wife and I feel. We don't have any family around to help us with the kids, so for about 8 years now, we've just been making it on our own. It's isolating and hard. We feel this intense envy when one of us goes to pick up our daughter from school and the playground is just full of grandparents. It honestly hurts our heart in a way. This movie captures that feeling right from the start.
Turns out, this movie hit way too close to home. After doing some research, it deeply resonated with me and my wife. In so many ways, we are the couple portrayed in this film, and my wife is definitely the "Nightbitch" (in the canine sense of the word). The whole thing comes from the director, Marielle Heller, and her own personal hell. She found the book when she'd just had her second kid, was "very isolated" during the pandemic while her husband was away, and felt like she was "slightly losing her mind." She said it was just like after her first child: "really isolating, really hard," to the point where she "forgot how to talk to people."
This is exactly how my wife and I feel. We don't have any family around to help us with the kids, so for about 8 years now, we've just been making it on our own. It's isolating and hard. We feel this intense envy when one of us goes to pick up our daughter from school and the playground is just full of grandparents. It honestly hurts our heart in a way. This movie captures that feeling right from the start.
Watch the clip below to see the raw, rapid-fire monologue where Amy Adams unleashes all that frustration.
The 'Antidote' That Made Me Squirm
Alright, I've gotta be 100% real with you. Parts of this movie were f***ing gross to me. I'm not kidding. The fur growing on her back, the moustache, the giant pimples, that scene with the blood in the shower… I was squirming in my seat. It was genuinely hard to watch. And I had to check myself, like, "Why is this bugging me so much?" I guess I have to own up to my own misogynistic tendencies, because this movie is a deliberate rebellion against exactly that feeling.
The director, Heller, basically called this movie an "antidote to Instagram culture," and she's not wrong. It's designed to completely wreck all that fake, filtered, "perfect body" bullsh** we see every day. It's meant to show the "unsightly" stuff: the anger, the bleeding, the messy bodily functions, because that's real. It's a huge middle finger to the "deep misogyny" that says women have to be clean and perfect all the time, especially as mothers.
It's also a big political statement. With all the "forced motherhood" sh** going on in the world, showing the graphic, unvarnished truth of the female body post-partum, menstruating, all of it, is a "radical act." It's validating the feeling that motherhood can be a huge burden, not just some perfect fantasy. It's messy, it's complicated, and this movie shoves it right in your face. And honestly? Even though I was grossed out, I respect the hell out of that.
The director, Heller, basically called this movie an "antidote to Instagram culture," and she's not wrong. It's designed to completely wreck all that fake, filtered, "perfect body" bullsh** we see every day. It's meant to show the "unsightly" stuff: the anger, the bleeding, the messy bodily functions, because that's real. It's a huge middle finger to the "deep misogyny" that says women have to be clean and perfect all the time, especially as mothers.
It's also a big political statement. With all the "forced motherhood" sh** going on in the world, showing the graphic, unvarnished truth of the female body post-partum, menstruating, all of it, is a "radical act." It's validating the feeling that motherhood can be a huge burden, not just some perfect fantasy. It's messy, it's complicated, and this movie shoves it right in your face. And honestly? Even though I was grossed out, I respect the hell out of that.
See exactly what I mean in the clip below.
The Metaphor
So, is she really turning into a dog? No. The whole movie is one giant, smart metaphor for what motherhood does to you. It's body horror, but for the post-partum experience. Her body isn't hers anymore, she's got weird hair, a tail, extra nipples. It's her body rebelling against that "perfect, civilized mom" bs society expects two seconds after you give birth.
But mostly, it's about her suppressed rage. She's stuck in a "Groundhog Day" of domestic boredom and hard work, she gave up her art career, and her husband is pretty goddamn useless. She's pissed, but can't say it. So this "feral femininity" takes over. She starts running around at night, pissing on lawns, and just being... well, a bitch. She reclaims the name "Nightbitch" as a title of power. It's an identity crisis. She's not even a person with a name (in the credits, she's just "Mother"). By embracing this animal side, she gets her artistic passion back. The real horror isn't growing fur; it's the psychological terror of feeling like you're losing your mind.
On a final note, the music was great. I even discovered the wonderful Joanna Newsom. Funnily enough, most of the soundtrack was by the director's brother, Nate Heller, who's the perky song leader from the library. Look, this is a movie I can't recommend enough to parents who have or had to raise kids mostly on their own. If you've got no family helping, no support system... this is a must-watch.
But mostly, it's about her suppressed rage. She's stuck in a "Groundhog Day" of domestic boredom and hard work, she gave up her art career, and her husband is pretty goddamn useless. She's pissed, but can't say it. So this "feral femininity" takes over. She starts running around at night, pissing on lawns, and just being... well, a bitch. She reclaims the name "Nightbitch" as a title of power. It's an identity crisis. She's not even a person with a name (in the credits, she's just "Mother"). By embracing this animal side, she gets her artistic passion back. The real horror isn't growing fur; it's the psychological terror of feeling like you're losing your mind.
On a final note, the music was great. I even discovered the wonderful Joanna Newsom. Funnily enough, most of the soundtrack was by the director's brother, Nate Heller, who's the perky song leader from the library. Look, this is a movie I can't recommend enough to parents who have or had to raise kids mostly on their own. If you've got no family helping, no support system... this is a must-watch.
Below is the clip where "Motherhood is fucking brutal" becomes art.
π΅ Beautiful Soundtrack Moment
I absolutely loved the use of this song in the film, especially during that beautiful shot of the dogs running behind The Mother. It perfectly captures the wild freedom she's embracing.
Joanna Newsom - "Divers"
π¬ You Might Also Enjoy:
Bunny Drop (2011)
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I Killed My Mother (2009)
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Mommy (2014)
A widowed single mother, raising her violent son alone, finds new hope when a mysterious neighbor inserts herself into their household.
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