The needle and the damaged Cheung

Is Maggie Cheung too clean for Clean? This is the question Filmbrain found himself asking after seeing Olivier Assayas' latest, which at times seems like a love letter from the director to his former wife. Clean is easily the most straightforward and conventional film from the man whose last film was the fascinating, yet frustrating Demonlover. Clean tells the story of Emily Wang (Cheung), junkie wife of on-the-skids rockstar (and fellow junkie) Lee Hauser (James Johnston). Emily rivals Yoko Ono for most hated rockstar spouse, with magazines like Q and Mojo blaming her for Lee's decline. After an argument in a seedy motel, Lee overdoses, and Emily is sent off to jail for possession. Naturally, everybody turns against her, and she finds herself without friends, money, or custody of her young son Jay (James Dennis). At the end of her prison sentence, she decides to start over in Paris, hoping to clean her life up in order to be reunited with Jay, who is being raised by her Canadian in-laws (Nick Nolte and Martha Henry). The first third of the film, set in an ugly industrial Canadian town is quite strong, and it's unfortunate that the remainder sinks into a sort of complacency. All of the tension disappears, and Emily's struggle is for the most part nonexistent. While it's nice that Assayas avoids almost all of the junkie-going-straight clichés, things seem to come together a bit too conveniently. Though the desire to be reunited with her son is a strong motivation, we never get the sense that she's having that hard of a time with it. As Jay's grandfather, Nolte is the kind, loving old man who is also full of forgiveness, and his desire to help Emily is touching, but doesn't make for the most compelling cinema. Part of Maggie's plan towards recovery is to pursue a musical career. While in prison she (somehow) recorded demos with a fellow inmate, and lo and behold she now has the chance to record with David Roback of Mazzy Star. This thread of the story really doesn't work in Filmbrain's opinion, and comes off as little more than Assayas showing us yet another of Maggie's talents. (Though is Filmbrain alone in thinking that both her voice and the songs were pretty awful?) As a vehicle for Maggie, Clean is a tremendous success, and nobody can argue against her skill as an actress -- her performance throughout is masterful, and the scenes with her son are heart wrenching despite (or perhaps due to) Assayas' unsentimental approach. It's a side of Maggie we've not seen before, and she clearly gave her all for the part. The problem, as mentioned above, is that with her gorgeous looks and perfect skin it's hard to buy into the fact that she's meant to be a junkie just released from prison going through withdrawal. While that's not a reason to write off the film, it is a bit of a distraction. Is Olivier trying to woo her back? Did he write this for her, or is it just coincidence? Any actress would be flattered to have such a part created for her -- Emily appears in almost every scene, and Eric Gautier's camera has her looking positively radiant from start to finish (even when her hair is mussed). The screenplay, written by Assayas and newcomers Malachy Martin and Sarah Perry has its flaws, particularly in some of the supporting characters. While the thought of Jeanne Balibar and Maggie Cheung as former lovers is the stuff dreams are made of, its inclusion in the story serves little purpose (as does the Balibar character entirely). Assayas once again uses music to great effect, and though it's cool to hear some classic Brian Eno tracks, the instrumental An Ending (Ascent) is dangerously close to its overuse point (Traffic, 28 Days Later). Clean is one of those films you wish was better than it is. The fact that it starts out so well makes the disappointment that much greater. It's not a bad film, and definitely worth seeing (should it ever find distribution in the States), but it's no Irma Vep.

Comments

[magasa]

not better than Irma Vep, I thick.

[Aaron Hillis]

"Emily rivals Yoko Ono for most hated rockstar spouse..."

Totally, I found her to be a near-perfect amalgamation of Yoko and Courtney Love.

But, you thought the film was unsentimental? I felt that one of Clean's strengths WAS its back-end sentimentality (as opposed to schmaltz, the hokey and forced kind of sentimentality that Hollywood tends to favor). The fading rocker downfall leading up to Lee's O.D. was definitely the strongest section of the film--and yes, it's no Irma Vep--but it was more of a mid-movie genre jump from swaggering rock-underbelly portrait into simpering child-custody melodrama, crossfading without drawing so much attention to what was more like a tonally-changed, subsequent chapter (once again, as opposed to all the genre-hopping exercises that go out of their way to point out what they've done). In the moment, I was ready to condemn the Nick Nolte scenes because I wanted more of the nightclub posturing and meta-cameos (Tricky, in a pivotal role, but ONLY in relation to Maggie's emotions? Priceless!), but after I left the theater, those final-reel sequences were the ones that lingered for days.

As for the baby-faced Cheung as a junkie? I bought that one entirely, because I once knew a radiantly beautiful couple who retained their looks while chasing the proverbial dragon. I didn't even know of their serious habits until one got in trouble with the law; they were WB-sitcom pretty! Anyway. I look at it this way, Assayas didn't harp on the now cliched moments of the junkie movie: disturbing grittiness, drug-addled acts of insanity/idiocy, or making your hottt stars look wretched to show how fucked up they can "act" (Spun, anyone? Didn't think so.) It's a stronger feat to me that this part of the film was more concerned with the character than her pock marks.

"Clean is one of those films you wish was better than it is."

It worked for me. And I'm usually one of the crankiest when it comes to a film's apparent missed potential. If anything, like I mentioned before, it wasn't the movie I expected. While I wanted more of that Mojo-referencin' cool cats on-the-brink-ness that peppered the first act, it later felt like instant gratification. Those are the moments that I enjoy AND expect in films of this sort, like it were hipster comfort food. But to turn the story 180 degrees into an optimistic, emotionally engaging tale of a mother climbing up from rock-bottom (with emphasis on the RAWWWK!), it slices the film into Maggie's nocturnally fun family and what ultimately becomes her important, real family.

One thing's for sure. I also won't be buying any Maggie albums anytime soon. Eeeeek!

[phyrephox]

I didn't see the film as being about Maggie as a junkie, but rather as a person whose social standing was wrecked by her association as an addict. The film focused more on her inability to function in a society where her network of family and friends has gradually eroded away through her drug use--a fact she only notices when the loved one she restricted herself to during her addiction dies.

I thought Nolte was fantastic. I also think the movie was entirely worth seeing for that one shot where Maggie is shooting up in her car on the river bank and a plume of flame flares up at the industrial park across the way.

[Filmbrain]

Nice comments, Aaron and Phyrephox.

Maybe I need to see the film again, but my initial reaction was that he (nicely) handled the whole "I want my child back" thing without a hint of sentimentality.

I don't mind a mid-movie genre change, but I feel that the dramatic tension that was there during the first third evaporated once the film (and Assayas) returned to France.

Granted, her social standing might have been wrecked, but do we really get a sense of that? There are one or two scenes of her struggling as a waitress in a busy Chinese restaurant, but the majority of the Paris section has her in cool bars and cafes, playing pool with Beatrice Dall, and being flirted with by Jeanne Balibar's secretary. Then he'll throw in a shot of Maggie struggling down the street with her suitcases as a balance. I don't know -- that section of the film just felt too light for me.

As I mentioned in the review, I'm very happy that the film isn't a typical recovering-junkie story, but I still feel it loses its bite. It's not the optimism I object to, but that the obstacles on the road there seem to melt away.

Nolte is great, yes, as is the boy. In fact, the last third of the film is wonderful, that is until the recording session scene. Using that as a device to show us how she's better and that things will be fine from now on is, well, a bit uninspired. (Was it Georgia that ended the same way?) Perhaps if the lyrics of the song and/or the performance was stronger, it might have had a greater impact. (Does everything Roback touches have to sound like Mazzy Star?)

Ultimately, this might just be a case of unmet expectations. Clean is a good film, but not a great film.

[Aaron]

For one of the few (first?) times ever, I completely agree with you Filmbrain, and think I basically said as much when I mentioned it after it screened at Film Comment Selects in February. It's by no means a bad film, but it just left me kind of meh.

Looks like you're finally coming around! :-)

[Tom Hall]

I think Palm Pictures has this film and will be releasing it later this year...

I agree, I wish it were better. That said, I liked the sequence with the rock band in the club very much. I think Assayas shoots musical sequences better than most (especially the ballroom sequences in LES DESTINEES), and I would love to see him make a musical.

[la depressionada]

bet beatrice dalle wasn't too clean. is the dvd out w/subtitles yet? (even though i should really just struggle along w/the french.)

[jeff]

Pretty good movie; and she could not sing.