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In one of her best roles, Cheung gives a believable and arresting performance as a recovering addict. Read critic reviews
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Movie Info
Junkie Emily Wang (Maggie Cheung) is arrested for heroin possession after her partner, Lee Hauser (James Johnston), fatally overdoses in a Canada motel room. After serving six months in jail, Emily learns she has lost custody of her son, Jay (James Dennis). Lee's father, Albrecht (Nick Nolte), who has been raising the boy with his wife (Martha Henry), gets in touch with Emily. As she regains contact with her child, she struggles to achieve sobriety, find a job and pursue her singing career.
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Rating: R (Drug Content|Brief Nudity)
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Genre: Drama
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Original Language: French (Canada)
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Director: Olivier Assayas
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Producer: Niv Fichman, Xavier Giannoli, Sarah Perry, Edouard Weil
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Writer: Olivier Assayas, Malachy Martin, Sarah Perry
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Release Date (Theaters): original
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Rerelease Date (Theaters):
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Box Office (Gross USA): $136.0K
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Palm Pictures
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Production Co: Journeyman Films Ltd.
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Sound Mix: Dolby SR, DTS
Cast & Crew
Critic Reviews for Clean
Audience Reviews for Clean
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Maggie Cheung is impressive in this film, which showcases her as a serious actor and woman of the world, as she seamlessly speaks English, French, and Cantonese (and even sings). Nick Nolte turns in a fine performance as well. Unfortunately, I found the script to this story of redemption from drugs not as strong as their acting, often wandering, and Olivier Assayas's direction to plod along. I confess that addiction movies are harder for me to enjoy to begin with. The musical performances and soundtrack for such a film could have been better showcased, which, while I suppose wasn't the point of the movie, would have made it more entertaining. I did like the cinematography and panoramic shots that Eric Gautier gave us, but wouldn't recommend this movie without reservations.
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Clean works as a thoughtful, smart, and realistic look at drug abuse and the ramifications from it. It features a powerful and nuanced performance by Maggie Cheung and Nick Nolte, albeit in a similar role for him. It doesn't opt for cliched resolutions or answers, but is really quite authentic. At the same time, the film does have an overly slow pace, which borders on meandering, and does seem to occasionally lose focus, at first attempting to introduce various subplots, but never quite paying them off. Still, an effective drama marked by strong acting. 3.5/5 Stars
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Like a painting on the wall of the Met, films should continue to invite inspection long after the voyeur has left the theater--like true art should. Slow and bleak but still poignant, Clean kinda sort does this, leaving room for interpretation from filmgoers...if the audience is patient enough to take the whole journey with the characters. Wrestling with a failing singing career, drug addiction, and being an absentee mother to her young son, Emily Wang (Cheung) suddenly finds her life turned upside down and inside out by her husband's death in the R-rated Clean. Despite weaving a slow-going tale, director Olivier Assayes still renders an exceptional and complicated tale of redemption simply by posing the following question: "Can people change?" Backed with luminous performances, especially that of an extra grizzly Nick Nolte as her long-suffering father-in-law, Assayes wholly succeeds not by fully answering the question, but by allowing filmgoers to identify with this reality. Bottom line: Good habit.
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Impossible not to think about Kurt and Courtney, even if inspite of choosing to bring up a "glamourous" drug and rock n´roll world (or the typical approach of junkies trying to clean up), the movie focus on a woman trying to change her life and to get her son back. Another interesting point is that it´s not really a sweet movie about mother and son knowing each other and getting close. Emily is not likeable and she´s not even sure if she wants to settle down. However, it´s more to a "typical" drama movie than any other Olivier Assayas´s movies (I´ve seen) where "nothing really happens". </br> </br>
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