Out of all the films at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, few have been more highly anticipated than Marielle Heller's Nightbitch. The film stars Amy Adams as an unnamed mother, who slowly begins transforming into a wild dog. It is without a doubt one of the strangest films to come out of the festival this year, but its unbridled originality is what makes it so exciting. Not only was Nightbitch thoroughly entertaining throughout its runtime, it also revealed the horrifying truth about motherhood. A truth that the world might not yet be ready to hear...
The monumental hype surrounding Nightbitch comes from its source material, a novel of the same name by Rachel Yoder that gained popularity on Tiktok's "Booktok community." Coincidentally, Tiktok happens to be the Official Platform Partner at this year's festival. The film has three central characters, Mother played by Amy Adams, Father played by Scoot McNairy. Throughout the film, Mother, a former professional artist finds herself tortured by the monotony of her life raising a two year old son. Various montages throughout the film illustrate the tedious repetition of being a stay at home mother. Every morning she makes the same breakfast, takes her son on the same walk, and attends the same "book babies" class at the local library. Every waking moment of her day is dedicated to entertaining this kid, socializing with other mothers she doesn't enjoy the company of or making sure her son simply doesn't die. At heart, Mother is a creative, professional woman, and as a parent she can't help but feel suffocated.
What makes these feelings of entrapment and frustration so much worse is Mother's absolutely useless husband. Most of the time he is out on business trips, leaving her with her son all week long, and when he comes back he still leaves her to do all of the chores and the parenting. Despite having a partner, she feels like a single mother. This leads to her getting more irritable and frustrated over time, especially late at night, resulting in her new nickname: "Nightbitch."
Over time, her primal instincts manifest in the form of her slowly taking on the physical attributes of a dog. As her monotonous life continues, she feels herself growing fur, sharp teeth, extra nipples. She begins craving the taste of rare red meat, eating with her hands, barking at people, and treating her son like a pup. I can confidently say I've never seen anything quite like it, which is partially what makes it such an uncomfortable watch.
For this role, Adams has transformed herself from the glamorous movie star we all know and love to a humble mother, and her performance is truly believable. All of her regality has been replaced by relatability, she's the kind of person you'd pass in the grocery store and wouldn't give a second look. Her transformation into Mother is almost as jarring and impressive as her character's transition from human to dog.
While Nightbitch is about the extraordinary transition one woman experiences from human to animal, that is not where the true horror lies. The true terrifying nature of the film comes from the mind-numbing monotony of motherhood that the main character is trapped in. It's the kind of story that can only come from a writer who is a mother herself. Intimate details about parenthood that could never possibly be known by someone on the outside. The seemingly never ending cycle of sacrifice and exhaustion. The frustration that comes from an incompetent, apathetic spouse. Feeling like you're losing yourself while trying to keep someone else alive.
The central message of Nightbitch is that motherhood takes. It sucks out every last bit of energy you have, leaving you a shell of your former self. While advertisements and television tries to convince you that motherhood is a beautiful thing full of smiles and nonstop love, it's easy to feel like your old self is gone. The ambitious, lively, interesting girl who always had something witty to say or another goal to accomplish "died in childbirth." As a mother, you go from being your own person to being someone's personal servant. The person expected to always do the shopping or clean the dishes or stay up all night when your kid can't sleep. Motherhood takes and takes and takes, and after a while it's hard to not feel stifled, trapped, "insignificant."
As a twenty year old college student, I have never experienced motherhood, but now I can't help but fear it. I also can't help but think of my own mother, who worked a full-time job throughout my entire childhood and still managed to cook dinner, do laundry, and to find time every night to read me a bedtime story, or sit on the floor outside my bedroom whenever I had trouble sleeping.
I would encourage any woman who has experienced motherhood to see this film, it will make you feel seen, heard, and represented. It is officially set to premiere in the United States on December 6th of this year.
By the time the credits roll, you'll realize that Nightbitch is about so much more than a woman transforming into a dog.
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