Nightbitch

Cert - 15

Run-time - 1 hour 39 minutes

Director - Marielle Heller

Facing the mundanity and stress of motherhood, a stay-at-home mum (Amy Adams) finds herself transforming into a dog.

The trailers for Nightbitch have presented it as a direct out-and-out comedy packed with wacky humour. In actual fact the latest from writer-director Marielle Heller, adapted from Rachel Yonder's book of the same name, is a serious film in the guise of an unserious one. One where the dramatic edges become sharper and more prominent as Amy Adams' Mother begins to embrace the fact that she may be turning into a dog.

Motherhood is taking its toll on the stay-at-home-mum. Trying to find her faded creativity after giving birth, with her husband (Scoot McNairy) constantly away working and seemingly ignorant of just how much work Mother is putting in to being a parent, she worries that she's losing who she was before her toddler, 'Son' (Arleigh and Emmett Snowden), was born. Sitting at dinner with college friends her life differs from the energy and vibrance exuded by everyone else, meanwhile she simply finds herself annoyed by the other toddler group mums. Her mind echoes the fear that she's becoming "a middle-aged, saggy mom with nothing intelligent to add to the conversation."

As the days go on Mother begins to display doglike behaviours, trying to break out into a free-running freedom, away from the tiring constraints of motherhood. In some respects Nightbitch shares themes with 2021's The Lost Daughter, however in this case, unlike Olivia Colman, Amy Adams wants to be a parent but is looking to take back control and have time to herself. These themes are fantastically balanced with the humour throughout. It's the rage and disappointment which Adams fantastically channels through the scatter of thoughts and hopes for calm in Mother's half-awake mind. Allowing for the hole to be burnt for her inner dog to leap through.

Mother shifts from a lack of caring as if almost giving up to a lack of care about what the rest of the world thinks - even as she begins to eat like an animal in public - as she strides forward with a growing confidence. Perhaps best summed up in a scene where she commits and then some to a rendition of Weird Al Yankovic's Dare To Be Stupid, this is a serious film that dares to be silly but never feels stupid.

The balance which Heller finds in her screenplay is a tricky one to find, and many other films could so easily falter or feels like a jumble with what Nightbitch is ambitiously trying to get across. But, here she succeeds and brings about a sense of fun in the process. The strangeness of the central idea is acknowledged and brought out without diminishing the serious themes at hand. Helping to grow the entertainment factor at hand, conveyed in Adams' brilliant central performance (if the film had a better overall reception, she'd rightfully be back in the awards conversation) and Heller's fantastically balanced screenplay.

Four stars