Nightbitch director Marielle Heller: ‘I’m trying to normalise the messy side of menstruation’

In most instances, a fire alarm and shared expression of panic wouldn’t be an ideal way to start a conversation. But on this occasion, it feels strangely appropriate. The tranquil exterior of a luxurious hotel contrasted with raging distress signals within. “This might just be the perfect metaphor for motherhood,” says Marielle Heller after having her opening sentence cut off. It’s the morning after the London Film Festival premiere of her film Nightbitch and from the outset, the director-writer isn’t in the business of airbrushing the maternal experience. 

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Based on Rachel Yoder’s 2021 magical realist novel, Nightbitch stars a delightfully off-kilter Amy Adams fighting to maintain her sense of self amid the prickly realities of raising a toddler; all while being pretty certain she’s turning into a dog (though no one  believes her). It’s a wacky and radical metaphor for postpartum depression. 

“I had so many people come up to me and say, ‘Oh I thought it was going to be a horror movie but it was so funny!’ and I’m like, I know!” Heller says. “We’re moving past this idea that a comedy just has to be funny or a drama has to be humourless. Real life is all mixed up. Some of the most upsetting moments of life are when you need to summon the courage for the biggest laughs.”

Heller has spoken candidly about the challenges of raising kids during lockdown. The experience of social isolation and identity loss tracked so closely to the film. Is she the Nightbitch?

“Oh yeah!” Heller responds. “No doubt about it. This is probably the most personal movie I’ve ever made.”

Despite having three feature films under her belt, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me? and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – two of which were nominated for Academy Awards – Heller believes she has only just arrived at a place where she’s capable of telling this story.

She says reading the book was “genuinely cathartic”. “It was for me, like [Yoder] had been spying on my brain,” she admits. “It’s an unflinchingly honest portrayal of the grossness and wickedness of what it can feel like on any given day as a mother. It said everything we want to say, but we’re told we can’t. That’s everything I wanted this film to be.”

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As well as calling on her own experiences, Heller tapped into the maternal journey of lead actor Adams, who has a daughter of her own. 

“Amy had a great time. She understood the emotional reasons behind everything. Whether it was sporting eight nipples or digging in the dirt, she was a really good sport. The role required a lot of physicality, and she brought her A-game for every take,” Heller says.

The tale of a woman metamorphosing into a marauding canine every night after tucking a toddler into bed could be a hard sell. But body horror is all the rage following Coralie Fargeat’s gross-out epic The Substance. And Heller is also a staunch advocate for the film’s prevailing theme of womanhood.

“There’s so much value to a movie that hopefully allows every audience member to empathise and be inside the shoes of a female perspective,” she says.

“I’ve had men say, ‘It gave me perspective about what my wife went through when our kids were little.’

“Nobody thinks ‘Oh, Indiana Jones isn’t for me because I’m not a white guy.’ We just relate to that protagonist. But for whatever reason, we take female stories and say they’re ‘niche’ or ‘just for women’.

“You don’t have to be a mother to relate to a person going through a crisis of self and feeling like they’re no longer intelligent because they don’t have the capacity to put together a sentence. These are not unique feelings. This is something any human can relate to.”

For all its CGI magic, the most striking visual is arguably the scene with Adams menstruating in the shower. 

“Perfectly scrubbed images on Instagram of what it’s like to be a woman don’t serve women,” Heller says. “I’m trying to normalise the messy side of menstruation, childbirth and all the functions women’s bodies perform. 

“This movie is a conversation starter that will allow us to look at motherhood in a more nuanced way,” she adds. “The whole experience is so fraught with judgement when compassion is what’s needed. The moment I’m willing to be more honest with anybody, the more comfortable they feel to open up too.

“I hope this movie shows that struggling to juggle your personal needs and desires with parenting doesn’t make you any less of a wonderful mother. We’ve all been there. And it’s OK.”

Nightbitch is in cinemas from 6 December. 

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