The viewer comes to identify with Jay, feeling jerked around and not really wanting to get to know Emily, a lost soul who isn't worth two hours of audience investment to find.
Comment
06/29/06
Clean (2006)
71
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:63
Fresh:45
Rotten:18
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: In one of her best roles, Cheung gives a believable and arresting performance as a recovering addict.
Theatrical Release:2004-00
Synopsis: Maggie Cheung gives an extraordinary performance in CLEAN, written and directed by her ex-husband, Olivier Assayas (DEMONLOVER). Cheung stars as Emily Wang, a junkie living with fading... [More]
Starring: Nick Nolte, Maggie Cheung, James Johnston, Don McKellar
Director: Olivier Assayas
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Reviews for Clean
The film that showed the world Maggie Cheung is more than just a strikingly beautiful face.
05/25/06
Top CriticAssayas' tale of the difficult search for redemption is less a standard road-to-sobriety story than a chance to marvel, close-up, at Cheung.
05/25/06
Top CriticOne of the most emotionally honest movies about drug addiction ever made. Well, maybe not addiction per se, but rather the attempt to disgorge oneself from heroin's grip.
06/24/06
The film gets its distinction from the performances by Cheung and Nolte, whose scenes together are suffused with loss and unexpected mutual compassion.
04/27/06
It's a globe-trotting drama with more than a touch of Wim Wenders whim to it.
06/09/06
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04/23/09
A potentially incisive treatise on the nature of redemption and reinvention is given disappointingly watered-down treatment.
09/25/04
Plays like the work of a great auteur working in sandbox mode to build a world that has too much of the whiff of hipster fabulism about it to play at gut level.
05/02/06
A tough tale that gives a fresh perspective and brittle honesty to the experiences of a recovering drug addict.
03/03/08
A disappointment.
03/02/08
Top CriticEmily is played by Maggie Cheung with such intense desperation that she won the best actress award at Cannes 2004. Only a few actresses in the world could have handled this role from a technical point of view.
06/23/06
Top CriticIt's a joy to watch the characters in this grown-up drama interact, their exchanges laced with anger and doubt, sadness and regret.
06/29/06
Can a misguided adult start afresh with a new set of values and priorities? This ambitious drama, directed by one of France's most resourceful filmmakers, explores that crucial question in depth and detail.
08/11/05
Cheung has a long way to go to be able to add much to a meandering, unfocused storyline or to develop much care for the plight of a marginal character.
05/13/06
A remarkably human and heartfelt tale unlike anything Assayas has yet produced. It's as if, for the first time in years, Assayas could see clearly.
05/26/06
Heroin really screws you up. And this deathly dull drug drama will do the same – if you manage to get to the end, that is.
07/05/05
While this somber drug-abuse drama contains few surprises -- it's pretty much what we've come expect to expect from such material -- Cheung's convincing performance as a drug addict is what makes it watchable.
07/07/06
It’s a complex, very successful portrayal of an addictive, selfish, volatile soul who knows she might be running out of chances at a decent life.
06/12/06
Top CriticBit of a mediocre drama from writer-director Assayas despite some good turns, not least from Nick Nolte and Beatrice Dalle.
07/05/05
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