Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Nightbitch.In 2021, Rachel Yoder’s novel,Nightbitch, hit shelves. It was critically well-reviewed, withThe Guardiancalling it a “feral read” andThe New Yorkercalling it “cathartic” and “surreal.” Now, Yoder’s book about an artist turned stay-at-home mother turned possible beast has a film adaptation. Amy Adam’s stars as the unnamed mother inNightbitch,a feral comedy about motherhood and identity. For two years, she’s been a stay-at-home-mom, sacrificing her career for time with her child.
Now, she’s discovering canine-like developments in herself, prompting her to find a new sense of empowerment and freedom in her everyday life while embracing the animal within. Over the course ofNightbitch,Adam’s Mother develops new friendships with other moms, separates from her oblivious husband (Scoot McNairy), and rediscovers her passion and love for the arts.On top of this, she puts everything she has into her son, leading her to a new art exhibit and a better relationship with her family, but her animal-like traits appear to be more metaphorical than literal.
Did Mother Actually Turn Into A Dog? Nightbitch’s Metaphor For Motherhood Explained
Mother Was Never A Literal Monster Or Dog
One of the biggest hooks aboutNightbitch –Amy Adams' horror-comedy–is thatit’s about a mother who thinks she is turning into a dog. This could have made it a werewolf film unlike others, but that is not the movie director Marielle Heller made.Most of the dog stuff is a metaphor for motherhood and womanhood. While Amy Adams' character does do dog-like things – growling, eating out of a bowl, etc. – a literal transformation is not happening. However,Amy Adams turning into a dog while raising her kidis all a metaphor, one that captures the feral side of motherhood.
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Instead, the moments where she sees changes in her body – patches of fur, sharper teeth, newer nipples – are extreme representations of how a mother’s body can change into something unfamiliar post-pregnancy and with age. As for her dog-like personality, this is the result of a woman breaking under the pressures of society, soshe decides to embrace a more feral version of herself.
What Nightbitch’s Final Monologue Means
Amy Adams Monologs About Motherhood, Womanhood, and Society
ThroughoutNightbitch, which hasAmy Adam’s highest Rotten Tomatoes score in eight years, the mother, portrayed by Adams, monologs a lot. After all,Nightbitchis a film dedicated to her unpacking what it means to be both mother and woman. By the end of the film,Adams' mother has found the balance in her life she’s so desperately needed, and she reflects on that after her gallery showcase, which she dedicates to her friends – fellow mothers – and their raw, visceral experiences as modern moms and women.
After the gallery showcase, Adams returns home to her family and wonders if this is what it means to be an animal. She’s made something for herself. She has found solidarity and community. She has found a balance between her passion as a mother and her passion as an independent woman. Stripping away the pressures of society and the preconceived notions of what it means to be a proper woman,Nightbitch’smother is happy. Becauseher happiness comes from within and is not a product of society, this makes her – in her eyes – an animal.
What Happens To Mother & Her Family In Nightbitch
Amy Adam’s Mother Founds Comfort In Herself And Her Pack
For Amy Adam’s mother –a role that is Adam’s boldest attempt to snap an unbelievable Oscars streak– she reaches a breaking point and asks for a separation from her husband. Up until this point, she had been doing all the work as a parent, while her husband views childcare as something he can tap out of whenever it suits him. Along with that, he has become painfully complicit, failing to see how his wife has been fading away. For him,he has no clue what happened to the woman he loved or how he played a part in her demise. Adams, on the other hand, does.
This separation is what she needs to find herself again as an artist, but that does not mean she does not want to be a mother anymore. She loves being a mother, despite the stress it causes her. She also loves her husband, but she needs him to see her as her full self, not just as a mother.
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Once he does so, the door is open again for them to bring the family together. He can be the supportive partner she needs, so she is no longer forced to be the only one burdened by the weight of parenthood.She can enjoy motherhood while being so much more than just a mother. It seems this newfound sense of self, as well as balance in her life and family, pay off as the final shot ofNightbitch,Amy Adams' new award-winning comedy horror,is of the mother giving birth to a newborn baby girl with her husband supporting her through a bloody, natural birth.
What Is Amy Adams' Character’s Real Name In Nightbitch?
Amy Adams' Leading Character In Nightbitch Is A Self Insert For Mothers
ThroughoutNightbitch, audiences never get the name of Amy Adam’s character. Instead, she is listed as “mother.” This plays with the metaphorical nature ofNightbitch, asthe leading character is a stand-in for mothers at large. What makes this choice stand out more, though, is how the other mothers inNightbitchare named.
Amy Adams' character is a woman who has lost all sense of herself outside of being a mother, so it makes sense that even her name would no longer matter. All that matters to her husband, herself, and society at the start of the film is that she is a mother, one who will eventually find herself again.
The Real Meaning Of Nightbitch
Nightbitch Is A Metaphor For Motherhood and Womanhood
She does not exist for one purpose or for one person. She does not sacrifice her motherhood for her passion. She does not sacrifice her marriage for her independence. She finds a balance, andshe defies what womanhood is according to society. That is exemplified in her gallery, which showsthe horror and comedy of motherhoodthrough the eyes of a mother, not the eyes of society.
Nightbitch
Cast
A suburban mother struggles with the isolation of stay-at-home life while raising her young son. As she begins to embrace her primal instincts, she experiences strange transformations, leading her to question whether she’s losing her mind or becoming something altogether different—something feral and dangerous.
