There is a type of suppressed rage women are conditioned to internalize in order to be successful in society – Nightbitch uncaps that rage and builds an entire film around it. Validating and cathartic, the film explores the inequity of womanhood and motherhood. The story centers around a former artist (Amy Adams) turned stay-at-home mom who begins to believe she is turning into a dog. This bizarre premise serves as a metaphor for the primal and often suppressed instincts that motherhood can awaken.
Directed by Marielle Heller and starring Amy Adams, I left the theatre unsure if I wanted to go and liberate my mothered sisters or rage on the system that relies on their invisible labour. But, wait, Amy Adams is a dog?
Amy Adams six-time Oscar winner delivers a powerhouse performance, embodying the protagonist’s descent into a surreal and feral state with both vulnerability and ferocity. She captures the essence of a woman who feels trapped by the monotony and isolation of domestic life, yearning for a sense of self beyond her roles as wife and mother. But, she also is a dog?
I’m a little concerned that maybe Nightbitch is a film more advanced than my review skills can meet. I love fearless approach to storytelling and a weird twist that leaves me thinking – but even weeks after TIFF, I’m still wondering how I felt about the film. I did think it was honest. Husbands are callous, motherhood is thankless, motherless friends are unaccommodating, society is mysogynistic – all fair points that it did feel a little repetitive and a tad smug.
I definitely felt moments of the film were relatable and not unique to mothers – the isolation, the boarish partner, the feelings of frustration, loss of identity, and the societal pressure to conform to an idealized version of what a mother should be. Ultimately, they overused the daydreaming format and the whole film felt like it was a bit one-note. I also found the surreal elements of the story hard to relate to. The metaphor of turning into a dog, felt a little heavy-handed and to be honest, it’s easier to accept that there is a supernatural element to the story and she did actually turn into a dog then it is to try and grasp every metaphor that showed up on screen. Because frankly, I didn’t get half of it.
Discussions about mental health, gender roles, and the invisible labor of women are so important. So I really love that they went for it and tried a fresh approach to help us really understand what women and new mothers go through. For Adams’ character, she was the source of her own salvation, as if she was clinging to an old world belief and now in the throws of reinvention is self-acceptance, glory and liberation. And, I think for most of us, that requires therapy… I mean, the woman was turning into a dog, I’m happy she figured it out, but the lightswitch flipping on was the least relatable moment to the film.
Should you go and see it?
Honestly, I’m not sure. I’m still processing the film and trying to determine if I didn’t like it, didn’t understand it, wasn’t sophisticated enough or simply have my own internalized feelings that are holding me back… or maybe I’m stuck on whether she actually turned into a dog. Because if she didn’t, then she’s got a lot of things to unpack… but don’t worry, she got her groove back and she’s cool now.
If you catch the film on December 6, please leave a comment on what you thought about it.
Marie Nicola
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