Criterion Collection Spine #354An emotionally devastating character study of a man wrecked by a mental disorder, that not only deals with his distorted perceptions of reality but also the scrutiny of societies perception towards him.This was another gem from the Criterion Collection that I had never heard anything about, but was intrigued to see just based on its cover. In the story Peter Greene who you may recognize as Zed from 'Pulp Fiction', plays Peter who suffers from schizophrenia and has just been released from a mental hospital. He apparently has no meds to help him deal with the anxieties brought on by his condition, and we see how he deals with or rather suffers thru each day. Even his own mother does not have any understanding for what he is going thru, and thinks he should just be able to just snap out of it and go living a normal life. The only thing Peter has left in the world is his young daughter, who was taken from him and now he is trying to track her down. What really makes Clean, Shaven special was how effectively Director Lodge Kerrigan was able to convey the intense discomfort of schizophrenia. Peter believes that a probe has been placed in his body, which results in him often being over come by all these electrical sounds or radio waves all around him. These hallucinations are brilliantly depicted thru what we see and hear, with excellent sound design combined with disorientating imagery including fast moving shots of power lines. We are shown how even basic tasks are difficult for Peter, which causes him to get locked into these mental blocks that cause him to lash out or come up a procedure in order to pull himself out of it. For instance, there is a scene where for some reason he has convinced himself that he needs to make three cups of coffee in a row with cream and sugar. Then in the library he gets so frustrated while searching thru documents to find clues about where his daughter is, that he freaks out and starts hitting his head against the book case, to try and stop all these random images that keep popping into his mind. You will notice we not only get to see his pain, but also the discomfort of everyone else in the library witnessing all these unusual behaviors.Spoilers...In attempt to keep people from seeing him in his car he bashes the glass out of the windows and then covers them with newspaper. He also seems to have a fear of being unclean, which causes him to rub his skin raw by repeatedly washing himself with a wire scrub brush in the shower. The same goes for shaving, which is where the film's name comes into play since he shaves his face and chest so hard that it results in numerous cuts. By far the most intense moments are when he tries to dig out this imaginary probe by cutting the top of his head with a scissor, and then later ripping his nail off so he can stab into his finger with a pocket knife. There are even great subtle scenes that perfectly present the debilitating state of his condition, like when he is laying on his hotel room bed feeling tortured by the random thoughts of his psychosis. He then looks out the window to see flags flapping outside, which was a great way of showing the separation between the mental state he is locked in compared to the outside world that is carrying on as normal. I deeply connected with Peter's pain since I developed OCD symptoms several years ago that caused me to also get lost in these redundant routines in order to try an appease my anxiety of making certain mistakes. When my condition was at its worst, people around me would just say I was being silly, because they could not relate to the severe discomfort that I would feel when trying to break away from these rhythms. Thankfully I received treatment and my condition is much milder now. In addition to the search for Peter's daughter, the story also includes a criminal investigation involving the murder of a child. Early in the movie there is the suggestion that Peter may have been responsible, but the answer is left ambiguous so we can decide for ourselves if Peter was capable of such an act. There is a detective that thinks he is the killer, and during his investigation we slowly see how shitty of a cop he is. For instance there is a scene where he could stop an armed robbery at bar, but does nothing. Then when he guns Peter down at the end when he is with his daughter, he makes sure to fire Peter's gun before leaving the scene in order to make it look like Peter shot first.What is even more devastating is that in the short time that he got to spend with his daughter, the world seemed to come slightly back into balance for him. But then it all gets ripped away when this head strung detective feels the needs to take Peter down to have closure in this case, that is frustrating him since all the pieces are not lining up. Then at the end we see how even this brief amount of time the little girl spent with her father made an impact, since she believed what he was saying about a radio being in his head, and tries to contact him using a CB radio.While Clean, Shaven is extremely intricate in its depiction of Peter's disorder, the overall story is very simple and only has an hour and 15 minute runtime. It is not an easy watch, but is a movie everyone should see in order to better appreciate and empathize with people struggling with mental illness. Thanks for reading!Happy movie watching.... SKOL!
