Amy Adams gives in to her inner animal in the latest from director Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?, A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood), based on Rachel Yoder’s superb yet slender 2021 novel. With its attention-grabbing title and sensational star, Nightbitch is a deliciously deranged prospect, taking a recognisable story of domestic drudgery and running wild with it.

Adams plays a character known merely as ‘Mother’, an artist and gallery manager turned stay-at-home mum, now slave to the whims of her two-year-old son (played by Arleigh and Emmett Snowden) and nothing much else. Struggling to find meaning in her new existence, when she starts to notice strange changes in her body, this mother is surprised to find herself with the ability to transform into a dog.

For such a long time, screen stories about raising children were sanitised and unrecognisable. These days the curtain has been well and truly pulled back, with Tully, Motherland and The Letdown among the finest examples of telling it like it is. Nightbitch certainly had the potential to join them and there’s much to savour here, especially Adams’ raw, unselfconscious and very un-Hollywood turn, which perfectly captures the intensity of her character’s identity crisis. Meanwhile, the idea of child-rearing as originating from the violence of birth and evolving into something feral gives the film a distinctive flavour.

Pointedly, Scoot McNairy as Adams’ husband is little more than a feckless and oblivious male, but supporting characters struggle to make an impression too. And, despite its interesting ideas, Nightbitch doesn’t nail it tonally, failing to fully get to grips with its outlandish conceit. The film never quite feels savage enough, struggling to balance the darkness, fire and rage with its desire to make gags, be likeable, and remain positive about motherhood.

Nightbitch is in cinemas from Friday 6 December.