Marielle Heller Screens “Nightbitch” at 60th CIFF

Marielle Heller walked the Red Carpet outside the Music Box Theater. This appearance is in support of “Nightbitch,” which she co-wrote and directed. The screenplay is based on the book by Rachel Yoder. Heller’s previous directing forays include “Diary of a Teen-aged Girl” (2015), “Can You Ever Forgive Me” (2018), and “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” (2019). Amy Adams and  Scoot McNairy play a husband and wife parenting a toddler. The toddler is played by twin tow-heads Arleigh and Emmett Snowden.

“I’m never going to be smart, happy, or thin ever again.  And I’m pretty sure I’m turning into a dog,” says the Mother character. That line sums up the plot’s  view of motherhood. All mothers in the audience will be able to relate to—up to the dog part, anyway. The theme of a hassled Mom trying to cope with daily life at home with kids reminded me of Jason Reitman’s 2018 film “Tully,”. Charlize Theron in that one had three kids and there was no werewolf-like metamorphosis involved. As she took the stage to accept her Visionary award, Marielle Heller said, “This is one of my most personal films. I’m just thrilled to be bringing it here tonight.” The 98-minute film’s tagline? “ Motherhood is a bitch.” The IMDB classification says  Body Horror, Comedy, Horror, and Dark Comedy. If you liked “Can You Ever Forgive Me” which earned Melissa McCarthy an Oscar nomination, you’ll like this one. If you’re a Mom, you’ll like it twice as much.

Q&A

Marielle Heller accepting the Visionary Award at the 60th Chicago International Film Festival on October 21, 2024.

After the film screened, Heller shared some insights into the production. The feeling that this could be “any city” and “any Mom” was intentional. Specifics are missing on purpose, including names. Heller is making the case that many mothers have lived. That’s the  marital playbook where the wife gives up her career and her dreams to stand by her man. “How many women have delayed their greatness while the men around them didn’t know what to do with theirs?”. Adams’ character was a successful artist and worked in an art gallery before she and her husband decided to have a child. Now, as the script says, “The whole concept of motherhood that we’re sold is basically bull-shit.”

SCRIPT

One scripted exchange between the couple has her husband saying, “What happened to the girl I married?” to which Amy Adams responds, “She died in childbirth.” The absence of specific names for our married couple is intentional. One scene (that others  wanted to cut) can be described as “the kale salad scene.” Heller described it as a difficult one for Amy Adams to play and “the heart of the film.” As she explained, “It’s that feeling of becoming more and more invisible as you age.” (Tell me about it. No, don’t. I live it daily.)

In the scene, the waiter seems to disregard Amy’s order of a kale salad on more than one occasion. The director was asked why the waiter doesn’t seem to respond to Amy Adams request for a kale salad.  Heller told him, “Your ears are not tuned to the sound of any woman over 40.” Adams declares herself a “sand cow” and says, “The woman that I used to be, she’s down here in my intestines, buried in kale.”

SETS/CASTING

Q&A in Chicago with Writer/Director Marielle Heller at the 60th Chicago International Film Festival  following the screening of “Nightbitch” on October 21, 2024.

One interesting fact was that the team looked at over 60 houses for filming. Heller said, “There was more effort to make the movie seem effortless than you could imagine.” (She stumbled upon the house at 2 a.m. on Zillow). She explained that the house they were seeking should demonstrate a certain level of good taste, but “with a layer of baby crap over the good taste.” The most difficult casting was that of the BookBaby Moms. Best BookBaby Moms scene is where each confides an anecdote about their failures as keepers of the household’s pets, whether a bird, a fish or a cat. The sharing occurred after Adams said, in response to inquiries from her BookBaby friends about the couple’s recent separation, “I just had to break out of it.  And I killed the cat this week, which made me aware that I’m not doing well emotionally.”

HUMOR

It is dead-pan delivery of lines like the one about the cat that will amuse anyone with a sense of humor— especially any woman who is a new mother struggling to keep her head above water in the treacherous currents of New Motherhood.  The script, which Heller based on Yoder’s best-selling book, is particularly good. It conveys laughs that hit home, as when Adams says, “I needed to dig around in the dark and just find myself again” and salutes all women who have given birth, citing “That shared bond of all you’ve given up for the continuation of the species.”

One of the best techniques that Heller uses throughout the film is to show the socially correct response,  contrasted with the actual REAL response. One such exchange occurs in the produce aisle of the grocery store in response to a work colleague who asks about being home all day with her new child. (REAL response, unsaid:“I would like to feel content, but instead I feel like I’m trapped within a prison of my own making.”) In public, she trots out the socially and politically correct phrases. Scott McNairy as the husband finally admits, “I didn’t see all that you were giving up by being at home.” (An apology is tendered, which Heller said made some people feel uncomfortable. As for herself: “We need to see more men apologize in movies.”)

DIFFICULT SCENES

There are multiple dogs in the film. When asked about the difficulties of working with them, Heller said, “With every dog there is a trainer who is talking off-camera. I didn’t know how chaotic that would feel.” She also embraced more unscripted spontaneity than in past films, because of the small child (actually two twin boys) whose immediate responses needed to be captured. The twins were wonderful in their part and any mother of a small boy will be able to relate to the antics of the toddler.

Asked about one of her favorite scenes, Heller singled out the scene that was her favorite scene to watch with an audience. It involved Amy’s increasing feeling that she is somehow changing and becoming more animalistic. Heller’s brother, Nate, (who played the singing male leader of the Book Babies club) accused his sister of liking gross things. In the scene Amy Adams examines some changes her body is undergoing and takes action. As someone who has a friend who absolutely loves the “Dr. Pimple-popper” television segments, I’ll leave the specifics  up to you to discover when you see the film in December (it premieres  December 6^th), but suffice it to say that it hasn’t been done on film in any movie I’ve seen previously.

CONCLUSION

You’ll want to put this one on your “Things that make you laugh and cry at the same time,” —especially if you’re a Mom  (as I am). If you’ve ever found yourself saying, “I don’t want anything or anyone else needing me or touching me,” then this is the film for you. Remember this scripted line if you’re still just giving the politically correct response to those questions about life with a new baby, “Insist on your joy. Time is short.”

Words to live by and a good reason to see “Nightbitch.”