A woman quits her job and becomes a stay-at-home mom, but it affects her in ways she could never possibly imagine.
Motherhood told… in a different way.
And that is where Nightbitch succeeds and stumbles at the same time. Let’s start with the first half, which I found considerably stronger than the second. Writer Rachel Yoder and co-writer/director Marielle Heller create something both beautiful and uncomfortable. Through a distinctly female gaze, they examine motherhood not as a miracle alone but as a burden, a sacrifice, a transformation, and, at times, an identity crisis.
The editing plays a significant role in this. Anne McCabe’s asynchronous cuts, the repetition of daily routines, and Amy Adams’ wonderfully expressive reactions turn ordinary moments into a bittersweet comitragedy. The film captures something many parents – and perhaps mothers especially – rarely say out loud: that creating life can be miraculous and exhausting simultaneously.
And Adams is magnificent – she always is, after all. She takes situations that could easily become exaggerated or self-indulgent and turns them into recognisable human emotion. Through her performance, sleepless nights, social isolation, domestic monotony, and the gradual loss of one’s former self become tangible realities.
What I particularly appreciated was how the film refuses to romanticise motherhood. It acknowledges frustrations and resentments that society often expects mothers to suppress. That honesty is where the film is at its most powerful.
However, there is also an element that, I believe, did not entirely work. The narrative increasingly embraces fantasy, turning the protagonist’s psychological and emotional state into something more literal and surreal. While the transformation is clearly symbolic and intended as a continuation of the same “madness,” it shifts the tone considerably. The symbolism is certainly there – instinct, identity, freedom, female rage, and the animalistic side of motherhood all become central themes – but whether the metaphor remains effective throughout is debatable.
The emotional truth of the first half carries more weight than the fantasy of the second. And when it returns to that emotional truth, it has nothing new to offer. Not only that, but the beautiful and worrying at the same time message becomes a tad repetitive and “in-your-face” or “shoved-down-your-throat”, oversimplifying it into: “Men! Understand your women, acknowledge your mistakes, assume your responsibilities as fathers, abolish patriarchy, and things will be all right.” Life doesn’t work like that, though…
Nevertheless, Nightbitch deserves credit for attempting something different. It joins a growing collection of films exploring the relationship between maternity, motherhood, female identity and societal norms through unusual lenses. Some choose horror. Some choose drama. Some choose a psychological breakdown. This one chooses absurdity.
In my last review, I promised to post this collection for you to explore those different approaches in the last few years. It is not exhaustive, but significantly diverse. So, here it is:
- Undertone (2025): https://kaygazpro.com/undertone-2025/
- Die My Love (2025): https://kaygazpro.com/die-my-love-2025/
- Bring Her Back (2025): https://kaygazpro.com/bring-her-back-2025/
- If I Had Legs I’d Kick You: https://kaygazpro.com/if-i-had-legs-id-kick-you-2025/
- Run Rabbit Run (2023): https://kaygazpro.com/run-rabbit-run-2023/
- Clock (2023): https://kaygazpro.com/clock-2023/
- Birth/Rebirth (2023): https://kaygazpro.com/birth-rebirth-2023-drama-horror-thriller/
- Baby Ruby (2022): https://kaygazpro.com/baby-ruby-2022-drama-thriller/
- The Hole in the Ground (2019): https://kaygazpro.com/the-hole-in-the-ground-2019-drama-horror-mystery/
- Mother’s Instinct (2018): https://kaygazpro.com/mothers-instinct-2018/
P.S. Interestingly, Nightbitch shares a similar theme in a dissimilar situation with the following film – I’ll let you be the judge of how and why: The Beast Within (2024): https://kaygazpro.com/the-beast-within-2024/
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