Premiere by Glenn Kenny

A superb effort by a first-rank director, and manna from heaven for Cheung fans.

Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt

Can a misguided adult start afresh with a new set of values and priorities? This ambitious drama, directed by one of France's most resourceful filmmakers, explores that crucial question in depth and detail.

TV Guide Magazine by Ken Fox

Cheung gives a revelatory performance.

Salon by Stephanie Zacharek

Cheung is one of the finest actresses working today, an expressive, lustrous beauty capable of plumbing a boundless range of emotional hues. This is the greatest performance she's given to date.

Portland Oregonian by Shawn Levy

Beautifully shot and cut, written with a visceral aversion to cliche, deftly skirting sentimentality, sensationalism and simplicity, it continually surprises, engages and satisfies. For a small, unheralded film, it's a knockout.

Austin Chronicle by Marjorie Baumgarten

One of the most emotionally honest movies about drug addiction ever made.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

Emily is played by Maggie Cheung with such intense desperation that she won the best actress award at Cannes 2004.

Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea

Clean, director Olivier Assayas' spellbinding study of a junkie trying to get her life in order so she can reclaim custody of her child, avoids the pitfalls, brilliantly.

Baltimore Sun by Michael Sragow

Nolte brings this movie a piece of his heart, and grants us peace.

The New York Times by Stephen Holden

Albrecht brings out a side of Mr. Nolte rarely seen on the screen, and he gives a deep and touching portrayal of a haggard, beleaguered older man.

The A.V. Club by Scott Tobias

The film gets its distinction from the performances by Cheung and Nolte, whose scenes together are suffused with loss and unexpected mutual compassion.

Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum

Not your average divorce gift: Clean's writer-director Olivier Assayas created the role of recovering rock-world druggie Emily Wang for his ex-wife, art-house/action-pic royalty Maggie Cheung (In the Mood for Love).

Village Voice by Michael Atkinson

Hitting the ground in his ultra-naturalistic mode, Assayas only uncages his star's formidable smile once or twice and never demands our empathy, making Clean a uniquely pungent portrait of dependent personalities and the strain they put on the social weave.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Rick Groen

It's not so much a movie in three acts as three movies stuffed into a single casing, and often showing the strain.

The Hollywood Reporter by Ray Bennett

Complex but cold tale.

Variety by David Rooney

Dramatically pallid and unconvincing. Despite being written for her, the director's "Irma Vep" muse Maggie Cheung seems oddly miscast here and is ill-served by an emotionally underpowered screenplay that rarely gets beneath the surface of the character's problems.

Empire by Alan Morrison

Bit of a mediocre drama from writer-director Assayas despite some good turns, not least from Nick Nolte and Beatrice Dalle.