Clean

Directors and their wives have, down the ages, accounted for a hell of a lot of used celluloid. Sometimes, as in the case of Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate on The Fearless Vampire Killers, they’ve only just found love on the casting couch. Then there are the genuine married muses of cinema – Anna Karina for Jean-Luc Godard, Gena Rowlands for John Cassavetes, Melissa Mounds for Russ Meyers.
Of course, the classic spousal pairing riffs on Vertigo; a guy with a camera tarts up his missus (or missus by the end of the shoot) to conform to whatever fantasies keep him up nights. Thus, Kate Beckinsale got skin-leathered up for Underworld, Milla Jovovich pinged about in almost-there Gaultier bandages for The Fifth Element and Irma Vep saw a gracefully vampiric Maggie Cheung fetishised and adored by filmmaker husband Olivier Assayas.
Seven years and one divorce later, Assayas and Cheung have reunited professionally for the rock-star drama Clean. Generally speaking, movies inspired by ex-wives tend not to be overly generous and sure enough, Clean casts Ms. Cheung as that most unfairly maligned of creatures: a Courtney-Yoko hybrid rock-widow. Disliked by all but her rock-star boyfriend (Bad Seed James Johnston), when Cheung’s character Emily is busted for heroin possession following her partner’s fatal overdose, twilight years in the gutter seem assured. Instead, she emerges from prison and cold turkey, determined to stay clean and regain custody of her young son. Persuading her late boyfriend’s father (Nick Nolte, brilliantly Captain Birdseye as ever) of her maternal capabilities, however, is quite another matter.
While Clean initially heaps tawdry circumstance on its junkie protagonist, it builds toward a warmly optimistic and forgiving outcome. In a tailormade role Cheung gets to demonstrate her proficiency in three languages while improbably investing the self-interested Emily with a soul. That’s not to say that this is Irma Vep II. Utilising a low-key urban verité, M. Assayas utterly deglamourises his ex-wife alongside the junkie chic of her character’s world.
Unfortunately, appearances from musicians Tricky and Metric – with Brian Eno floating about as an aural entity – presumably intended to offset the sense of authenticity, become something of a stumbling block. “I need to talk to Tricky about getting my son back” becomes Emily’s surreal refrain as the narrative contorts to accommodate its celebrity cameos.
Still, if Clean is occasionally fuzzy in intent, it’s elegant, well-performed and just about as sweet as valentines to ex-wives get. Dirt enthusiasts will just have to hold out for a Woody and Mia onscreen reunion.

Running Time 110mins. Cert IFI members. Opens July 1.