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Maggie Cheung mesmerizes as an addict trying to come 'Clean'

The arrogant woman we meet at the start of "Clean" is very different from the haunted person she becomes for much of this 2004 film from writer-director Olivier Assayas ("Demonlover").

In a smoky bar in Canada, Emily (Maggie Cheung) and her singer-songwriter partner, Lee (James Johnston), launch into an argument with his manager, Vernon (writer-director Don McKellar), about Lee's career.

Palm Pictures 'Clean' B- The verdict: A wandering but beautifully acted tale of hard-won redemption. Director: Olivier Assayas Starring: Maggie Cheung, Nick Nolte, Beatrice Dalle, Jeanne Balibar, James Johnston, Martha Henry Run time: 111 minutes Release date: April 28, 2006 Rating: R for drug content, language and brief nudity. On the web Official movie site Rate 'Clean'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Emily claims, unconvincingly, that DreamWorks is interested in signing him. Vernon snaps at her to come back to reality out of her "psychedelic junkie fantasy world."

Delivered with a built-up viciousness that tells everything we need to know about his history with her, the words imply what Emily's actions later confirm: She drives to a lonely parking lot and scores three bags of heroin.

Everything changes that night when Lee, back at their hotel, OD's. Emily lands in jail, and, after eventual release, her years of drugged-out, bohemian wandering give way to a much, much harder life.

Assayas' tale of the difficult search for redemption is less a standard road-to-sobriety story than a chance to marvel, close-up, at Cheung. The movie's title refers to drug recovery, but it might as well allude to her makeup-free emotional transparency (she won the best actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival two years ago for the performance).

"Clean" follows Emily to Paris, where she once lived and now finds drudge work as a waitress at her uncle's Chinese restaurant. She contacts old friends, looking for a better job. But their wariness (like Vernon's words) tells us volumes about her old trespasses against them. It's almost redundant when Irene (Jeanne Balibar), a former cable-show colleague, says, "I've heard all your lies."

The scenes in Paris may lose some viewers. The film's middle is circuitous and episodic, reflecting Emily's unrooted life. She moves in with an old friend (Béatrice Dalle); gets caught up in drama between broken-hearted Irene and the girl who just dumped her (Laetitia Spigarelli); and tries to track down Tricky (the British music producer-singer, playing himself), an old friend of Lee's who, she thinks, can convince Lee's dad to give her visitation rights to see her son.

Oh, didn't mention those two, did I? Nick Nolte, in a gentle, stoic performance, plays the father/grandfather, Albrecht, who's been raising young Jay (James Dennis) in Vancouver with his wife Rosemary (Martha Henry, who makes her hatred of Emily almost palpable).

When their paths cross late in the film, "Clean" finds its focus, as Emily, who hasn't been able to forgive herself, finds forgiveness, unexpectedly, from Albrecht.

Some of the script doesn't quite work; the subplot of Emily's attempt to start a singing career feels sketchy. But Cheung is always amazing to watch, whether she's floating through Paris in a methadone fog or collapsing under belated waves of grief at Lee's death.

The supporting cast is made up of strong, distinct actors, with Dalle, Spigarelli and Balibar nailing variations of a cooler-than-thou type of French hipster. And Nolte's gentleness gives "Clean" unexpected grace notes.

But it's Cheung's movie, the second Assayas wrote especially for her. First was "Irma Vep," made two years before he married Cheung in 1998. The couple's divorce papers came through while they were shooting "Clean." If "Irma Vep" was a pre-romance valentine, "Clean" is one memorable memento of an amicable divorce.