Nightbitch 2024 Parents Guide

Last Updated on November 10, 2024 by Stephinie Heitman

Nightbitch is a 2024 comedy horror Movie directed by Marielle Heller and written by Marielle Heller, and Rachel Yoder. The film Amy Adams Scoot McNairy, and Arleigh Snowden with a runtime of 1 hour 38 minutes, theatre released on December 6, 2024.

Imagine giving up your dream career and moving to the suburbs to take care of your child, only to feel like you’ve lost yourself in the process. As weird as the situation described above may sound, this is the exact turn of events that happens to the main character, referred to as Mother in the movie Nightbitch.

Mother is a character portrayed by Amy Adams, who previously worked as a director of an art gallery and left her job to be an at-home mother to her toddler son. She paints herself to the public as a happy mother, but in reality, she feels caged. She fears that she will never be happy, smart, or even feel like a real person again.

The film by Marielle Heller, based on the book by Rachel Yoder, explores what happens when women give up on their dreams to become “good mothers.” Scoot McNairy portrays Mother’s husband who jogs most of the week, at least, five days a week leaving her to tend to the sprightly, delightful little boy. This leaves her feeling isolated and bored in her new lifestyle, which is not a good thing at all. She remembers choosing these decisions—quitting her job, and lying down in the suburban states—but she questions whether she comprehended what she was sacrificing.

The Suburban Struggle

Suburban “mommy culture” alienates Mother from her own identity. She steers clear from activities such as baby reading groups at the library because she thinks other mothers are perfectly happy being stay-at-home moms. To her, their lives appear mundane and excessively happy, and she cannot fathom how she will be able to relate to them. However, she one day gets acquainted with three moms; Jen, Miriam, and Liz, who are not like the other moms she has come across. Jen is an art lover, Miriam has a troubled spotty background, and Liz is interested in Mother’s artistic pursuits. They are interesting and make her think that she does not only have to be just a mother – she can be a person at the same time.

Changes Inside and Out

Mother also begins to sense the altercations as she notices peculiar changes in herself. One day, her son draws her attention to a patch of fuzzy hair on the back. Something is different about her; her teeth are sharper than before; her senses are heightened; her body feels different. Initially, she dismisses the alter-ego but the transformations represent her conflict. She is frustrated with her husband because he is insensitive about all the struggles she has. She scolds him for not contributing much to the household chores and instead of talking her frustrations out she delegates them. This makes her wonder: Is she turning into a ‘bitch,’ or does the culture label any woman who asserts herself and seeks a better life as one?

These physical and emotional transformations compel Mother to rediscover her inner savage—the savage within her that suburban existence has buried. She recollects her childhood and her late mother’s sufferings; she starts studying myths about women transforming into animals. She gradually begins considering the possibility of shedding that perfect mother persona and accepting the wild and untamed aspects of herself.

One of the scenes when Mother is portrayed is when she is playing ‘doggies’ with her son and eats food out of a container making dog barking sounds. Initially, strangers who pass by glance at her, but she does not mind. It shows that she is now starting to break free from the constraint of trying to be as ‘normal’ as she can be. Little does she know that this new persona she creates and embraces, “Nightbitch,” is a much more liberated one. Does she indeed transform into a dog or is it merely representational of her rediscovering the person inside of her? The movie ends here leaving that question unanswered.

That is why the change of Mother is not just a simple shift from being a mother to a wild animal; instead, it is the return to herself. She understands that she does not have to sacrifice her dreams of being an artist or making up stories just to be a good mom in a suburban society. It states that she has the opportunity to become both a mother and an artist even if she remains honest with herself.

A Bit Too Tame?

However, Nightbitch is replete with intriguing concepts concerning motherhood, identity, and the expectations placed on women; however, it never truly engages with its avant-garde elements. The movie does not depict the theme of Mother as a rebellious figure challenging societal norms as expected. For instance, she rebels against her husband and suburban traditions but is not entirely liberated from them. The ending is rather positive and leaves a warm feeling in the stomach, you can see the family playing in the park joyfully. It is not a drastic transformation but more of the progressive improvement sort and this idea is well captured and illustrated in the series.

Final Thoughts:

Amy Adams does an outstanding job and delivers one of her best performances in recent years as Mother/Nightbitch. She portrays the tiredness as well as the passion that comes with the responsibilities of being a parent. Scoot McNairy also performs well playing the role of her husband who while wanting to support her is quite clueless about how much more he should be doing.

Nightbitch is relevant and can bring laughter and tears to anyone who has ever experienced the societal expectations that are placed upon the individual. It doesn’t dive quite as deep as it could with these depictions of women’s untamed, animalistic selves, but it remains an engaging and insightful portrayal of what it means to be a mother—and a woman.