Are Moms Really Going Feral? And Other Thoughts We Had on ‘Nightbitch’

Let’s start with the basics. Overall, what did you think of Nightbitch? Did it accurately depict motherhood today?

Anna Moeslein: Yes and no. There were scenes that rang true, especially the one where Amy Adams’ character’s husband is like, I’m going to take over bath time tonight. You relax. And then the whole time he’s yelling from the other room, Hey honey, where’s this? Hey honey, where’s that? So she ends up just going in and doing it herself.

Stephanie McNeal: Oh yeah. We can take a diversion just to talk about the scenes where her husband displayed wildly infuriating weaponized incompetence. For me, the most triggering one was when he asks her if she’s made coffee and she says, No, you can make coffee if you want. And then the whole time he’s hovering around like, well, how do I do it? So the bathtime one was the triggering one for you?

AM: Yeah, it was definitely the bathtime scene. My husband’s very hands-on, but I think we have fallen into our roles and sometimes in a bad way. I do, frankly, delegate a lot. I’ll ask him to do something but he won’t know, like, what drawer the socks are in. That kind of stuff. I just inherently hold all that information, always.

The movie very much plays into the trope that the mom is the one doing the emotional labor and household management, and anecdotally, it seems a lot of heterosexual women do play that role. But do you think that’s true across the board? Or is it just a stereotype?

AM: That’s the stereotype or, historically, it’s been women. But I think that in every household, regardless of gender, there is a person who’s more dominantly the keeper of the household space and someone who is in a more passive role. I have friends where it’s the reverse.

SM: We don’t want to be heteronormative here. Everyone’s dynamic is different.

AM: There always is going to be someone who’s doing maybe over 50%, if not 80, 90% of the household labor.

What parts of the film didn’t ring true for you?

AM: This is very specific to me, but the boy they cast was so cute and honestly, struck me as the easiest kid. At times I thought, what is she complaining about? I am privileged to have childcare, but I have twins, so it’s double the work when I am on with them. There were so many times where I thought, oh, that seems like the easiest day ever. I found it hard to relate to, but I know that’s highly specific to my own circumstance.