The ravishing diva Maggie Cheung won the prestigious 2004 Cannes'
Best Actress award playing a musician who is thrown into prison
after her boyfriend dies of a drug overdose and she is convicted
of heroin possession.

When she gets out of jail, she is determined to stay clean (hence,
the title) so that she can be a better mother to her son, and also
revive her music career.

Maggie Cheung deserves the Cannes title for her powerful performance
as an emotionally unstable woman — but Fridae thinks she's
done way better work in previous Cannes contenders like In The
Mood For Love.

At any rate, Clean is not an easy film to follow or like.
Art-house director Oliver Assayas seems determined to make "challenging"
movies with confusing subplots, all shot in a herky-jerky documentary
style. At times, his devices smack of pretension. You could take
this or leave it.