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Clean
Clean film poster
Directed by	Olivier Assayas
Produced by	Niv Fichman, Xavier Giannoli, Xavier Marchand, Sarah Perry, Edouard Weil
Written by	Olivier Assayas, Malachy Martin, Sarah Perry
Starring	Maggie Cheung, Nick Nolte, Béatrice Dalle
Distributed by	Palm Pictures (USA)
Release date(s)	March 27, 2004
Running time	111 min
Language	French, English
Budget	~ £4,500
IMDb profile

Clean is a 2004 film directed by French director Olivier Assayas, starring Nick Nolte and Maggie Cheung. It was jointly funded by Canada, France, and United Kingdom sources.

• Maggie Cheung - Emily Wang
• Nick Nolte - Albrecht Hauser
• Béatrice Dalle - Elena, a friend of Emily
• Jeanne Balibar - Irene Paolini, Emily's former employer
• Emily Haines - Herself

The film was nominated for the "Palme d'Or" at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and Cheung's performance earned her the award for "Best Actress" at the festival.

Cheung plays Emily Wang, a former video jockey, who has been in a tempestuous relationship with Lee Hauser (played by James Johnston of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds), a rock musician, for several years. Lee's friends feel that Emily is bad for him, accusing her of being a junkie. As the film opens, the pair have arrived in Hamilton, Canada, to see Metric perform. Their young son, Jay, is living in Vancouver with Lee's parents.

Following an argument in their motel room, Emily walks out on Lee, and after taking some heroin, falls asleep in her car. When she returns to the motel the following morning, she finds that Lee has died of a drug overdose, and the Ontario Provincial Police are investigating. As Emily attempts to force her way into the room to see Lee, the Police find the heroin in her bag, and she is arrested.

Emily spends six months in prison for possession, and upon her release, discovers that custody of her son has been awarded to Lee's parents. She resolves to return to Paris, where she used to live before meeting Lee. Before she leaves, she briefly meets with Albrecht, Lee's father, played by Nick Nolte, who tells her that he would prefer that she not see Jay for a few years.

Emily begins work in a Chinese restaurant in Paris for some relatives, but does not enjoy it. She has become addicted to methadone, and her friends try to ensure that she can get prescriptions for the drug.

Meanwhile, Lee's mother, Martha (Martha Henry) falls ill, and she and Albrecht travel to London with Jay, so that she can receive medical treatment. While they are there, Albrecht decides to bring Jay to Paris to meet with Emily, but the boy has been told by his grandmother that Emily was responsible for his father's death, and does not want to see her.

Emily eventually decides that she must try to get clean in order to be able to spend more time with her son. She stops taking methadone, and prepares for Jay's arrival. When the boy eventually meets his mother, she takes him to a zoo, and explains to him about her relationship with his father, and why they took drugs.

She also dreams of pursuing a career as a singer, and when she is finally granted the opportunity after meeting a fellow musician in prison, she must make some serious decisions about her life.

The songs that Maggie Cheung performs in the film were written and produced by David Roback of Mazzy Star. The soundtrack also features songs by Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Emily Haines,Metric and Tricky.

• Assayas and Cheung met during the making of Irma Vep in 1996. They married in 1998 and divorced in 2001. Clean was their first collaboration since the divorce. They actually signed the divorce papers on set during filming.

• Official Website
• Clean at the Internet Movie Database