Parvati Magazine February 2014 - Sobriety1 | Page 21

FILM

W

inner
of
the
Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize, the
2012 independent film
Smashed is a comedydrama exploring what
happens to the shared
life of an alcoholic couple
when one person decides
she has hit bottom and
stops drinking.
Kate Hannah (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is the alcoholic in question who
chooses sobriety after the
things that happen when
she has been drinking
go from embarrassing to
frightening. A co-worker
(Nick Offerman) reveals
to her that he has been
clean and sober for nine
years, and invites her to
attend Alcoholics Anonymous with him. Meanwhile, her husband Charlie (Aaron Paul), while
still deep in addiction,
has not seen his drinking
lead him into the circumstances Kate has experienced, and he is not yet
interested in changing his
ways. Nor is Kate’s mother
supportive of her choice,
embittered by her ex-husband’s decision to leave

her after he joined AA
while she chose to continue drinking.
Support for Kate comes in
the form of the co-worker
and her sponsor (Octavia
Spencer). Neither of