Sherrybaby (2006)

Sherry Swanson (Maggie Gyllenhaal) returns home to New Jersey after serving a three year prison sentence. Eager to reestablish a relationship with her young daughter, Sherry soon discovers that coming back to the world she left behind is far more difficult than she had planned. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: The first six movies Maggie Gyllenhaal made (Waterland, A Dangerous Woman, Shattered Mind, The Patron Saint of Liars, Homegrown, and Resurrection) were all directed by her father. She has been in three movies with her brother Jake Gyllenhaal: A Dangerous Woman, Homegrown, and Donnie Darko.

Sherry Swanson is not perfect. Far from it. She uses drugs, gets put in prison, when she gets out she uses her sexuality to get what she wants from men. She has a daughter that she freely admits to not taking care of before being put in prison. But this movie is more then just her. Her parole officer is suspicious of her. The other girls at the halfway house don't like her. The administrator of the halfway house program has sex with her. The man at the employment office promises a certain job for her if she performs for him. There is a hint that her father sexually abused her at an earlier age, he definitely did during the movie. Her sister-in-law is very possesive of her daughter that she has been raising since Sherry went to jail and subverts her efforts to reconnect with her daughter, and all this while her brother looks on. Sherry Swanson is not perfect, but it seems she gets no help or support from anybody else. Maggie Gyllenhaal was very good as Sherry. She is a pretty solid actress.