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The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and Cheung's performance earned her the award for Best Actress at the festival.
Cheung plays Emily Wang, a former video jockey, who has been in a tempestuous relationship with Lee Hauser (played by James Johnston of The Bad Seeds), a rock musicianA musician is a person who plays or composes music. Musicians can be classified by how they make music: A singer (also called a vocalist) uses his or her voice. An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument. Composers and songwriters make up music and wri, for several years. Lee's friends feel that Emily is bad for him, accusing her of being a junkieA junkie (or junky is a heroin addict. The word has also come to be used to describe addicts in general, and even more loosely, enthusiasts and obsessives (as in the term "science fiction junkie"). Junky is also the title of a book by William S. Burroughs. As the film opens, the pair have arrived in HamiltonThis article refers to the City of Hamilton Ontario. For the Township of Hamilton in Northumberland County see Hamilton, Ontario (Township). Hamilton is an important Canadian steel-producing city in Ontario, located on the western end of Lake Ontario., Canada, to see another band perform. Their young son, Jay, is living in VancouverThis article refers to the city in British Columbia, Canada. Vancouver can also refer to Vancouver, Washington, USA, a suburb of Portland, Oregon. For other uses, see Vancouver (disambiguation Vancouver (49n16, 123w07 PST) is a Canadian city in the provin with Lee's parents.
Following an argument in their motelThe word motel originates from the Motel Inn of San Luis Obispo, first built in 1925 by Arthur Heinman. Entering dictionaries after World War II, the motel (aka the motor hotel) referred initially to a single building of connected rooms whose doors face a room, Emily walks out on Lee, and after taking some heroin, falls asleep in her car. When she returns to the motel the following morning, she finds that Lee has died of a drug overdose, and the Ontario Provincial Police are investigating. As Emily attempts to force her way into the room to see Lee, the Police find the heroin in her bag, and she is arrested.
Emily spends six months in prison for possession, and upon her release, discovers that custody of her son has been awarded to his parents. She resolves to return to Paris, where she used to live before meeting Lee. Before she leaves, she briefly meets with Albrecht, Lee's father, played by Nick Nolte, who tells her that he would prefer that she not see Jay for a few years.
Emily begins work in a Chinese restaurant in Paris for some relatives, but does not enjoy it. She has become addicted to methadone, and her friends try to ensure that she can get prescriptions for the drug.
Meanwhile, Lee's mother, Martha ( Martha Henry ) falls ill, and she and Albrecht travel to London with Jay, so that she can receive medical treatment. While they are there, Albrecht decides to bring Jay to Paris to meet with Emily, but the boy has been told by his grandmother that Emily was responsible for his father's death, and does not want to see her.
Emily eventually decides that she must try to get clean in order to be able to spend more time with her son. She stops taking methadone, and prepares for Jay's arrival. When the boy eventually meets his mother, she takes him to a zoo, and explains to him about her relationship with his father, and why they took drugs.