LFF 2024: Nightbitch

Amy Adams’ Mother puts her career on hold to parent her young toddler. The transformation of her feelings, sense of self and relationship to the world spark a change in her that is as liberating as it is radical. Adapted from Rachel Yoder’s acclaimed 2021 novel, Nightbitch is a modern feminist fable that plays on traditional tropes to examine the role of motherhood in a society where women still battle to ‘have it all’. Adams and Scoot McNairy offer fearless performances as the modern couple. But this is a tale for the sleepless and Adams gives a career best performance, embracing the heightened emotions of her character.

For the originality with which it captures the magic and chaos of motherhood, it marks another success for director Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood).