Nick Nolte may not be the first person that would come to mind when needing advice on beating substance abuse. That, however, did not prevent him from being cast as the father of a heroin overdose victim who goes on to help his daughter-in-law overcome addiction and move on with her life.
“It’s like we come into this world as a 360-degree bundle of everything-and we have to spend the first 20 years of our life trying to be good-and then it comes to a point where we realize that there are other parts of us that we have stuffed away,” says Nolte during an interview last week promoting his film Clean. Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past few days, you’ll know that the actor is making his presence felt while in town for the film festival.
Clean, written and directed by French filmmaker Olivier Assayas, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and has quickly become a hit here in Toronto as well.
Exploring themes of forgiveness and the breaking free of past problems, the film follows Nolte’s daughter-in-law Emily, played by Maggie Cheung (who won the Best Actress prize at Cannes), as she moves beyond the death of her husband and time in jail to find her own place in a world that is reluctant to forget her past.
And Nolte is no stranger to this kind of situation, having faced years of substance abuse himself, which culminated in his much-publicized conviction two years ago (right after his last disheveled festival run through town) of driving under the influence and subsequent rehab. Regardless of hurdles he may have encountered in his own life, when you get the chance to sit down and talk with Nolte, he invariably presents a number of surprisingly positive and interesting observations on life, and not only for those dealing with addiction problems.
“Instant gratification doesn’t solve a problem. If I have a problem, say, like my drinking, the only thing that can solve the problem is to know what is aggravating you-to know what is bothering you down deep. Instant gratification will serve only a few for an instant and then the rest will be miserable.”
And that’s why Assayas chose Nolte for the role. Not only does he have a significant amount of talent for playing the part, but he also comes with a personal background of having dealt with many of the same problems as the characters in the film.
Assayas explains that the film is not simply about the process of going clean but rather as being one of how you live your life after the bubble has burst.
“Today people are very polarized and stuck with conflicts of the past-but I would like people to realize that time heals, that people can be allowed to change, and that conflicts can be overcome,” adds Assayas.
Nolte explains that he saw the overall theme of the film as “everyone has this shadow or bag-and in this bag we’re holding our problems and carrying them around. There comes a certain time when we have to open the bag and own up to what is in it-and it can take a lot of time to deal with this as we find anger, negative energy, etcetera all bottled up inside.
“The film is about the process of getting clean-one in which you only break down when you are finally clean because it is at that point that everything finally comes together for you.”
Precisely why Clean truly comes together as well-not only does it work as a film, but as the burdens that the characters have been carrying around are revealed, the audience begins to fully understand the message, and the weighty ideas of its creators.
