Clean (2004)

After she ends up in prison and loses custody of her son, a woman struggles to assimilate outside her former life and remain clean long enough to regain custody of her son.

Director:

Olivier Assayas

Writer:

Olivier Assayas

Stars:

Maggie Cheung, Nick Nolte, Béatrice Dalle

2 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Maggie Cheung	...	Emily Wang
Nick Nolte	...	Albrecht Hauser
Béatrice Dalle	...	Elena
Jeanne Balibar	...	Irene Paolini
Don McKellar	...	Vernon
Martha Henry	...	Rosemary Hauser
James Johnston	...	Lee Hauser
James Dennis	...	Jay
Rémi Martin	...	Jean-Pierre
Laetitia Spigarelli	...	Sandrine
Arnaud Churin	...	Store Manager
Man Kit Cheung	...	Restaurant Owner
Kurtys Kidd	...	Detective
Shaun Austin-Olsen	...	Record Label Owner
Jodi Crawford	...	Gloria

Storyline

London-based Emily Wang gained minor notoriety from her VJ-ing on cable television. She is now more renowned for being the longtime girlfriend and pseudo manager of rock musician Lee Hauser, who seems to be on the brink of stardom. Those that know the couple believe she is a bad influence on him, and is the reason why he is a junkie. After Lee dies from an accidental heroin overdose and Emily is imprisoned for six months on possession charges, she learns that the courts have awarded custody of their young adolescent son, Jay, to Lee's aging parents, Albrecht and Rosemary Hauser, who live in Vancouver. A concerned Albrecht asks that she not attempt to see Jay for at least two years while she cleans up her act so as to give Jay a fighting chance at a decent life. Emily initially agrees, knowing that she is in no position to look after Jay. To regain her life, she decides to move back to her old stomping grounds of Paris. As Emily tries mostly unsuccessfully to become clean while eking ...

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Plot Keywords:

motel | jail | singer | money | junkie | 

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Taglines:

When you don't have a choice, you change.

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Genres:

Drama | Music | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for drug content, language and brief nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

France Canada UK

Language:

French English Cantonese

Release Date:

1 September 2004 (France)

Also Known As:

Clean - Quando il rock ti scorre nelle vene

Filming Locations:

Gare du Nord, Paris 10, Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

GBP4,500 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$14,953, 30 April 2006

Gross USA:

$138,711

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,892,685

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rectangle Productions, Haystack Productions, Rhombus Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min 110 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the scene where Albrecht has a meeting concerning the artwork for Lee's album, a Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds poster is seen on the wall behind him. James Johnston (who plays Lee Hauser) plays guitar and organ in The Bad Seeds.

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Connections

References Robbie the Reindeer in Legend of the Lost Tribe (2002)

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Soundtracks

Taking Tiger Mountain
Written by Brian Eno
Performed by Brian Eno
P 1974 EG Records

User Reviews

Impressive performance by Maggie!

Clean marks Maggie Cheung and her ex-husband Olivier Assayas's 1st project after the divorce.

As i personally unable to catch Irma Vep, the French vampire drama which both previously worked together, i am unable to say how well Maggie Cheung has acted in French, but seriously, i am really impressed by Cheung's performance in her 2nd French film. Playing the role of Emily Wang, a rock singer's husband, Maggie presented herself in fluent English, French and Cantonese, her native language. When Emily was arrested for possession of drugs after her husband died of overdose of heroin, she was imprisoned for 6 months. After her release from the prison, she promised her father-in-law (Nick Nolte) that she would start her life clean, so as to get back her son. During this period, she worked in a Chinese restaurant as a waitress, and at the same time, she wants to settled down with a proper job, which was none other but related to rock music.

Clean focuses on Emily's journey to start life anew, with some scene where her father-in-law is helping her to get back to life, by convincing her son, Jay, to go back to his mum. From the film, we could see the journey Emily has been through, right from the help given by her friends, how she was treated in the restaurant, to the reunion with her son. Maggie Cheung has proved the fim critics that being an Asian female movie star, she could also acted well in this multi-nation production which gains her an Cannes. Nick Nolte, on the other hand, helps to enhance the film with his role of the forgiving father-in-law, who was there to help his daughter-in-law to get back her son, rather than blaming her for his son's death.

It was quite sometime for the Asian audiences to see Maggie Cheung as the main actress in a movie after Zhang Yimou's Hero, which was seen as a failure in Asia. While Wong Kar Wai uses Maggie as Tony Leung Chiu Wai's memory in 2046, where she barely appears for less than 10 seconds in the whole film, Assayas fully enhanced Maggie's potential in Clean, which is a delight to Maggie's fans.

Also, Maggie Cheung performed the theme song for Clean for the first time, which also thrills and surprises her fans. Unlike Madonna and Jennifer Lopez, who are both singer and actress, Maggie Cheung has never recorded an album before, as she's not a professional singer. But with the new try in Clean, not only we could get a chance to see her impressive performance, but also judge on her vocal in the 2 songs performed by her in Clean. By acting and singing at the same time in Clean, Maggie Cheung has not let her fans down.