Assayas handles the touchy topic judiciously and with remarkable panache.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 25, 2019

The one-two combination of Nolte's essential generosity and decency as an actor with Cheung's innate levelheadedness nicely gets around the customary trumped-up "conflict" movies over-rely on.

| Nov 19, 2013

A tough tale that gives a fresh perspective and brittle honesty to the experiences of a recovering drug addict.

| Mar 3, 2008

A disappointment.

| Mar 2, 2008

It's a movie about bad choices and suffering the consequences and unfortunately, a lot of the suffering is done on the audience's side of the movie screen.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 27, 2006

Cheung makes her character work, despite a weak plot and script, both by director Assayas.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 13, 2006

Maggie Cheung gives an astonishingly complex performance as a junkie rock star trying to clean up her act.

Full Review | Oct 7, 2006

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.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 7, 2006

While it may sound like the premise for a Lifetime movie starring Tori Spelling, Clean pulls off the difficult task of telling a deeply emotional story without slipping into excessive sentimentality.

Full Review | Jul 7, 2006

Cheung reveals a wealth of intense emotions, never once going for a predictable emotional chord.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 7, 2006

There are so many quiet, understated miracles unfolding in Clean that all you can do is watch in awe and amazement.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 30, 2006

It helps -- immensely -- that Cheung is pitch-perfect. Her performance is heartbreaking.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 30, 2006

The rough, exposed emotional candor of Cheung's singing voice carries into her performance...

| Original Score: B | Jun 29, 2006

It's a joy to watch the characters in this grown-up drama interact, their exchanges laced with anger and doubt, sadness and regret.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 29, 2006

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.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 29, 2006

The film locates its heart muscle, however, in its performances.

| Jun 24, 2006

One 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.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 24, 2006

Beautifully shot and cut, written with a visceral aversion to cliche, deftly skirting sentimentality, sensationalism and simplicity, it continually surprises, engages and satisfies.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jun 23, 2006

Emily 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.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 23, 2006

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.

Full Review | Jun 12, 2006