This movie tagline is truly epic: “Motherhood is a bitch.” It is both literal and figurative in the most recent feature directed by Marielle Heller.
“Nightbitch,” which premiered at the Toronto film festival on Saturday, features Amy Adams as Mother, an artist who becomes a frantic stay-at-home mother who is responsible for a boisterous toddler while her husband frequently travels for business.
As she becomes more isolated and overwrought, Mother begins to hear sounds in the night and develops unusual hair patches. Is she transforming into a real dog?
Utilizing a combination of comedy, drama, and magical realism, “Nightbitch” delves into the diverse aspects of motherhood, including the wonder and joy, as well as the melancholy and exhaustion, as it is based on the 2021 novel of the same name by Rachel Yoder.
The film is certain to resonate with millions of women who have been required to make difficult decisions regarding their careers, parenthood, and marriage, only to occasionally be left feeling disappointed and resentful.
Heller stated during a post-screening Q&A, “We are not particularly comfortable discussing female rage.”
“It felt really good to kind of take this invisible experience that a lot of us have gone through and make it more visible.”
Heller is a seasoned participant in the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the largest film festival in North America. This event serves as a platform for independent films, Oscar bait films, feel-good crowd-pleasers, and pertinent documentaries.
The 50-year-old Adams, a six-time Oscar nominee, is the star of this film. She has embraced the role with gusto — pun intended — and is likely to be included in the discourse for next year’s awards due to her gritty, uncompromising performance.
She confidently delivers inner monologues about the mind-numbing monotony and frustrations of being a mother, seethes as other children scream during library story hour, and paws at the ground on one of her nocturnal excursions.
“Parenthood is a shared experience for Adams, yet it is not shared.” “It is an incredible privilege to be able to share that with you all,” she stated during the Q&A.
Scoot McNairy, who portrays Mother’s spouse, shared his most significant insight from the experience: “Do not rationalize motherhood.”
