63. CLEAN
 
France/Canada/UK
dir. Olivier Assayas
world premiere 2004
U.S. release 2006
 

 
Because while comparably great filmmakers revised the maternal melodrama with Sirk as their polestar, Assayas did the same without relinquishing his fascination with modern art and commerce. Cheung and Nolte are unimprovable. The film had a rare aura even before it took two years reaching the States, and before we knew it would effectively be Cheung's last. Or will it?