Nightbitch

From writer-director Marielle Heller (CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?) comes a puckishly surreal dark comedy about a woman on the edge, someone whose demons come courtesy of circumstances that should, unfortunately, feel all-too-familiar for mothers. Adapted from the 2021 novel by Rachel Yoder, NIGHTBITCH stars Amy Adams as a stay-at-home parent whom we know only as “Mother”, which should give a sense of how all-consuming her role is. Her husband travels frequently for work and he’s oblivious to the fact that his wife bears the brunt of their parenting duties—and that she may or may not be turning into a dog. As Mother unravels, she finds a strange sort of catharsis in an ongoing game with her toddler in which the two “act like doggies”. Soon the game bleeds into reality as Mother sprouts canine characteristics, which Heller portrays with perturbing body-horror effects. Motherhood is the epitome of a primal state. Though NIGHTBITCH captures the delirium and loss of identity that may come with raising children, its balanced portrayal never denounces the experience—it simply calls for fair practices in this often-unacknowledged form of labour. (Beatrice Loayza)

Marielle Heller: THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL (2015), CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? (2018), A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD (2019)