Sherrybaby (2006)

Shown at Sundance this year, Sherrybaby features Maggie Gyllenhaal as a former heroin user who exits prison and tries to regain custody of her daughter while trying to stay clean, get a job, and deal with her own abusive childhood. ''It definitely seemed like a major challenge,'' says Gyllenhaal. And nothing could quite brace the actress for the film's blunt sexuality, which required Gyllenhaal to perform in the nude. ''There are scenes that are incredibly, incredibly disturbing,'' she says. ''In some ways, less nudity in this movie would have felt gratuitous.... We needed to show that something [in Sherry] is really broken.''