In what will surely rank in the annals of casting against type, comedienne Sarah Silverman holds nothing back in her portrayal of Laney, a woman who risks her apparently perfect life as a middle class wife and mother as she embarks on progressively more dangerous and self destructive forays into infidelity and self-abuse. I Smile Back, which debuted at Sundance last January, is a study in addictive behavior and ultimately the self destructive compulsion that can result from emotional imbalance. An unrelenting film and an impressive characterization by Silverman who tells the HFPA’s Michele Manelis how she drew form her own experiences with depression to create the role.

Luca Celada