Clean (2004)
Directed by Olivier Assayas

Film Review

With Clean, an intensely poignant, remarkably astute account of a woman struggling to repair a life that has been all but trashed by drugs and personal tragedy, Olivier Assayas continues to dazzle as one of France's foremost auteur filmamkers.  It's a surprisingly understated film, noticeably more introspective and restrained than much of Assayas's earlier work, which include the brutally realist L'Eau froide (1994) and flamboyant period drama Les Destinées sentimentales (2000). The narrative approach and mise-en-scène are pretty conventional, showing little of the stylistic quirks that we have come to expect of this idiosyncratic director, who reveals himself mostly through a customary sense of detachment.  By reining in his artistic excesses, Assayas ensures that the focus stays well and truly on his magnificent lead actress Maggie Cheung, his former wife and the star of his earlier film Irma Vep.  Everything the film shows us is from Cheung's perspective, and that gives it an incredible sense of intimacy and immediacy.

The film owes its impact almost entirely to Cheung's spellbinding performance (probably her best to date), through which we gain a real sense of the tremendous ordeal her character has to go through in order to reconnect with herself and the world around her.  The sequences near the end of the film where Emily attempts a faltering reconciliation with her young son is not just true to life, it has a peculiar kind of poetry that really does touch the soul.  Clean is a beautiful film which deals wisely and imaginatively with some familiar themes (notably the power of love to heal the wounds of the past), and whilst some of Assayas's other films can be intimidating this one is definitely one that can speak to anyone - anyone in the world.  It tells a simple story in a simple way, and is all the more powerful for doing so.

Film Synopsis

Emily Wang and Lee Hauser have been in a relationship for many years.  He is a 40-something rock singer who is past his prime; she is his promoter, and is finding it increasingly difficult to find him work.  They have managed to get through the highs and lows of their professional and private lives with the help of hard drugs, principally heroin.  Things finally come to a head during a tour of Canada.  The couple fall out and Lee ends up by taking a fatal overdose.  His partner finds herself spending the next six months in jail.  On her release from prison, Emily heads back to Paris to pick up where she left off with her friends Elena and Irène.  Emily is determined to kick the drugs habit so that she can one day take back custody of her son Jay, who is presently in the care of Lee's parents.  She has a long way to go before she is 'clean' and fit enough to reassume the responsibilities of motherhood, but she is resolved not to be beaten...