Director Lachlan Mcleod follows Australian Sandra Pankhurst and her team of ‘trauma cleaners’: those who scrub crime scenes, suicide sites and clear out hoarders’ homes
, Pankhurst and her team specialise in “trauma cleaning”: swabbing-down crime scenes and suicide sites, assisting the mentally and physically disabled with home maintenance, and clearing out hoarders’ homes and deceased estates.
Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morningAlthough Clean largely revolves around Pankhurst, interviews with her staff and various clients make the film that much more rhizomic. The film is the opposite of what John Berger criticised in Ways of Seeing: “Art that makes inequality seem noble and hierarchies seem thrilling”.
Shot plainly and at a remove, there is no fanfare in Clean – just the story and the people telling it, many of whom are candid and irreverent; a lifetime of hardship and trauma does not allow for self-consciousness. We follow Pankhurst’s staff – on their way to work, at home or on the job – and it’s clear they share her ethos of “promoting care, compassion and dignity” with their clients.
However, Mcleod’s major misstep is adding unnecessary reenactments of events from Pankhurst’s past. Between interviews, there are scenes shot in a muted colour palette – of a lone boy sitting at a desk, blood dripping in reconstructed crime scenes, sex workers performing their jobs and smoking cigarettes. Paired with the overworked original score by Patrick Grigg, these scenes feel bathetic; Pankhurst is a natural storyteller, and her no-bullshit presence tells us enough.
That being said, there is a certain vulnerability in Pankhurst that comes through in Clean. She tries to remain stoic, even through bouts of laboured breathing, and abruptly changes the subject when she is asked a question that catches her unawares. Before going on stage to speak at a conference, she casually tells someone that a tumour has been discovered in her brain.
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