That is “bitch” in both senses of the word: a female dog and the pejorative term for a woman. But disappointingly, the provocative title is not matched by the movie here – a tame feminist satire written and directed by the Scottish-born film-maker Marianna Palka, who also stars as a housewife. Her character is inspired by a patient of the radical psychiatrist RD Laing, a woman who started behaving like a dog.
Laing once described insanity as “a perfectly rational response to an insane world”. You might find yourself in agreement watching Gill (Palka) being treated like a doormat by her selfish creep husband (Jason Ritter) and their four over-entitled kids. Seriously depressed, one morning Gill has a breakdown, dropping on all fours and barking. Well, if they’re going to treat her like a dog, she may as well behave like one – though not a particularly house-trained one. Snarling and smeared in her own faeces, Gill is put in the basement until she snaps out of it.
It’s an interesting concept, but the characters are thin and nothing here feels insightful. Worse, instead of biting a mastiff-sized chunk out of gender stereotypes, Bitch slips on a muzzle around the halfway mark, overlooking satire in favour of redemption and reconciliation as the focus shifts to Gill’s husband manning up and taking responsibility around the house. More of a chihuahua nip then.
