Written and directed by Marielle Heller
Based on the novel by Rachel Yoder
Starring Amy Adams, Scoot McNairy, Arleigh Snowden, Emmett Snowden, Zoë Chao, Mary Holland and Jessica Harper
USA, 2024
New mother Amy Adams deals with post-partum depression by transforming into a werewolf. Or does she? Who knows? Etc.
After THE FRONT ROOM and THE WOMAN IN THE YARD, I’d about had it with pissed off moms, but NIGHTBITCH is interesting in the way that it clearly articulates all of the Adams’ character’s conflicted feelings about her new position in life as a mother while also showing that she can still be a good mother at the same time. She never takes it out on her kid. Which is nice.
She does take it out on others, though, as she tries to figure out how to reconcile the perceived death of her former life as an artist and her new life as a stay-at-home mom. This is exacerbated by the fact that her husband (Scoot McNairy) travels for work, so it’s not just that he’s gone all day, he’s gone for days at a time.
In some ways Adams’ complaints are stuff I feel like I can indentify with and I’m not even a mom. Like, I also get annoyed by other people’s children. I also sometimes get sad I spend all day devoting my life to something other than my dreams. I also would not want to be friends with other moms just cuz I’m a mom.
About the wolf stuff – it’s supposed to be allegorical or metaphorical, and it is interesting how it underlines the fact that we need to be reminded sometimes that we’re all just animals, but it’s also sort of ancillary to everything else. It’s supposed to be the movie’s thesis statement, but like a few other movies this month, it left me wondering what the movie might have been like without it? Would it be better? Worse? I dunno. At least it’s an interesting point of view, I guess.
Also, you should probably know that you would not consider this a horror movie, so if you’re concerned about that, don’t bother watching it.
Extra points for a great title, though.
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