Amy Adams turning into a dog was not on my bingo card for this year, and yet here we are, because that’s exactly what happens in the actor’s new thriller, Nightbitch.

It’s been a little while since we’ve seen Adams in a gritty but fun role, but here she delivers a brilliant and potentially award-winning performance in which she explores the heightened emotions and questions of identity that can come with motherhood and being a new parent. Loving your child but disliking motherhood is a tricky balance to strike and portray on screen, but Adams finds this balance and conveys this emotion so brilliantly in the film.

The protagonist, known only as ‘Mother’ (played by Adams) is struggling to raise a toddler in the suburbs, often on her own. Isolated, lonely and exhausted, the new parent slowly embraces an animalistic power deeply rooted in motherhood. She loves her son deeply but seems to resent the role she’s now found herself in, especially as she can’t seem to bond with the other mothers around her. As she begins to fear losing her own humanity and taps into her anger and rage, she becomes increasingly convinced through bizarre and undeniable signs that she may be turning into something less human and more canine.

Nightbitch: Amy Adams delivers a mesmerising performance in this darkly comic exploration of motherhood