Ryan McNeil
Marielle Heller’s new film begins with a moment of absolute honesty.
Our heroine says the sort of thing new mothers have said in their head thousands of times, but wouldn’t dare say out loud. But there we are…in a grocery store…in the middle of a weekday afternoon … privy to some hard, cold truth.
Only to realize it’s all in our heroine’s head; she loves everything about parenthood. Thanks for asking!
NIGHTBITCH stays inside the head of that heroine played by Amy Adams.
Not long ago, she was an artist living in the city. She was up on everything that was happening in the world with things to say about all of it. Now she’s a stay at home mom; she is struggling with the expectations, the isolation, the depression, and about a dozen other “ions”.
Then one day, she believes she is turning into a dog. Typical suburban parenting drama, right?
This film is a lot of things, but one thing it isn’t is “expected”. It’s a film that depicts a lot of the realities new parents go through – details that are seldom seen on-screen. It lets us sit at the table while mom and dad argue, listening to them try to make sense of where they went wrong … even though they really didn’t.
Most of all, this film is one that is unafraid to paint strange pictures to accompany strange feelings. It wants to break open the instagram frame and really talk about the hardest parts of what new parents will face. It wants society to get real honest with ourselves, remember that every generation before us went through this too, and that there is a reason why they say “it takes a village”
Most of all, NIGHTBITCH wants mothers to have the latitude to get out of their own heads – to say those things aloud and not get shocked stares in return. They aren’t the first mother to feel these feelings, they won’t be the last.
The film wants us to get real and see the act of giving birth for what it is; intense violence followed by intense love.
That’s a heady experience – and, it needs to be said, an experience no man will ever know.
With heady experiences comes some unexpected moments. NIGHTBITCH lives in those moments…and more films should too.