In life, things have to get a lot worse before they can get a little better. In “For Worse,” the versatile and immensely watchable “Transparent” star Amy Landecker’s good-natured narrative feature debut as a writer and director, life gets considerably chaotic for Lauren, a sober and recently divorced West Coast mom trying to give a different direction to her life with her newfound freedom.

It used to be that characters like Lauren — usually defined by that somewhat cringe-inducing and overused “women above a certain age” phrase — were a rarity in cinema. But these days — especially considering several terrific recent releases of all sizes like “Suze,” “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,” “The Idea of You” and even “Babygirl” — we don’t seem to be living in that same cinematic world anymore, one that refused to acknowledge the existence, realities and complex sexual desires of women, well, above a certain age.