Clean 2005

Emily Wang, Maggie Cheung, is a former video jockey caught in a long and rocky relationship with Lee Hauser, a restless rock musician whose friends warn that Emily is bad for him. Their young son, Jay, has been living in Vancouver with Lee’s parents, a detail that underscores the distance and tension at the heart of their family dynamic.

The story opens as the trio travels to Hamilton, Canada, to catch Metric in concert. A heated dispute erupts in their motel room, and Emily, overwhelmed, leaves the room, uses heroin, and falls asleep in her car. She awakens to the news that Lee has died from a drug overdose, and the Ontario Provincial Police begin a formal investigation. When Emily tries to force entry into the room, authorities uncover heroin in her bag and she is arrested.

Six months pass in jail, and upon her release custody of Jay is awarded to Lee’s parents. Determined to reclaim some sense of her former life, Emily decides to return to Paris, where she once lived. Before she leaves, she meets Albrecht, Lee’s father, who makes it clear that he would prefer she stay away from Jay for a few years.

In Paris, Emily takes a job in a family-owned Chinese restaurant, a position she finds unsatisfying and restrictive. Her struggle with methadone deepens, and she leans on friends to obtain prescriptions, creating a fragile routine that keeps her tethered to the edge of addiction. Meanwhile, back in London, Lee’s mother Rosemary is diagnosed with a serious illness and travels with Jay to seek medical treatment, while Albrecht decides it’s time for Jay to meet Emily. The boy, however, has been told by his grandmother that Emily caused his father’s death, and he resists the idea of seeing her.

As the months unfold, Emily resolves to get clean not only for her own sake but to be able to spend real time with Jay. She abruptly stops methadone, preparing for the day Jay will arrive. When the boy finally comes to see her, she takes him to a zoo and candidly explains her relationship with his father and the reasons behind the choices they made, including the drugs that shadowed their lives. In a parallel arc, Emily also discovers a new passion as a singer, and a chance encounter with a fellow musician in prison presents her with a life-changing opportunity that forces her to confront what kind of future she wants to build.

Throughout, the film traces Emily’s messy, painful ascent toward recovery and connection, balancing moments of tenderness with the harsh reality of addiction, parental turmoil, and the work it takes to repair a fractured family. The narrative unfolds with a measured, patient cadence that keeps the focus on character, memory, and the hard-won decisions that will shape Emily’s road ahead.