Movie Review: NIGHTBITCH

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: December 6th, 2024 / 05:30 PM

NIGHTBITCH movie poster | ©2024 Searchlight Pictures

Rating: R
Stars: Amy Adams, Scoot McNairy, Arleigh Patrick Snowden, Emmett James Snowden, Jessica Harper
Writer: Marielle Heller, based on the novel by Rachel Yoder
Director: Marielle Heller
Distributor: Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: December 6, 2024

NIGHTBITCH is one of those movies that is very hard to quantify. It is so astute and acute on some levels, while appearing to think it’s being universal yet in actuality so niche on others, that one can’t either wholly praise or dismiss it.

Amy Adams plays an upper-middle-class mom, referred to in the credits as “Mother” (one of those would-be universal touches), who retired from what sounds like a fulfilling job to stay at home with her little Son (referred to in the credits as such, played by Arleigh Patrick Snowden and Emmett James Snowden).

Husband (Scoot McNairy) has a job that keeps him out of the house a lot, and when he’s home, he believes he’s being helpful while actually still delegating to his wife. While Mother deeply loves Son, she is stressed out over being exhausted, over routine, over lack of adult interaction – and out of guilt that she’s not enjoying motherhood more.

Then Mother feels that her hearing and sense of smell are becoming more acute. She develops growths that might send most of us to the doctor, but convinces Mother she’s turning into a dog at night. A very charming-looking husky dog appears on camera, loping out with a pack after dark. Mother finds this freeing, as well as giving her new bonding techniques with son.

Women’s guilt over their fears that they’re not doing motherhood right, no matter what it is they are or aren’t doing. NIGHTBITCH, as directed and written by Marielle Heller from Rachel Yoder’s novel, articulates this passionately and clearly, as does Adams in her performance.

Likewise, the film captures the kind of uncomprehending resentment that can arise out of bad communication, with tinges of martyrdom on one side and selfishness on the other that can be blown out of all proportion. Again, this is well-observed, but then, because NIGHTBITCH wants Mother to wind up viewed a certain way, it blurs the thin line that separates lack of knowledge from willful insensitivity.

But NIGHTBITCH puts Mother in a situation that’s not really applicable to even all stay-at-home mothers. A lot of them don’t even have the option of trying to talk to their husbands about participating more. Also, while there are protestations to the contrary, simply from the look of the house, it looks like Mother could afford to hire a maid to watch Son for a few hours while she gets some much-needed sleep. The film is very much speaking to women who have choices, not to mothers who have to move mountains to feed, shelter and clothe their children.

Since NIGHTBITCH we don’t know if Mother is really transforming or not. The fact that Husband doesn’t seem to notice any bodily changes is a hint here, as is the fact that it never seems to affect the plot either way.

Finally, the suggestion that there is something empathetic, let alone hilarious, about killing a companion animal out of frustration (not even frustration with the animal) is so abhorrent that, for this reviewer anyway, it automatically throws suspicion on some of the film’s other intimations.

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