Smashed

Smashed (2012) is a US drama directed by James Ponsoldt — watch it online on iFILM. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Kate, an elementary school teacher who drinks heavily every day. Her husband Charlie, played by Aaron Paul, has the same habit, and for a while the marriage holds together on shared laughs and shared bottles.

Then one morning Kate blacks out in front of her class. That single incident cracks everything open. Getting sober through an AA group — with help from a sharp-eyed sponsor played by Octavia Spencer — turns out to be just the start. Staying clean means confronting the lies she's told at work, a fractured relationship with her mother, and one uncomfortable question: if alcohol is the glue holding her marriage together, what's left without it?

Premiering at Sundance in 2012, the film earned praise for Winstead's raw, unguarded performance. No melodrama, no easy answers. Stream Smashed online on iFILM.