CLEAN

LOGLINE

Lawan works as a cleaner in the poshest parts of Stockholm. When the charming Soderberg asks her for a special job, Lawan will discover some truly horrible secrets…

INTENTION

By SaraKlara Hellström

We live in a society where we get an increasingly widespread gig economy that splits society into two. One part that cares, and the other that is cared for. In this episode I want to examine the complexity of "care" as both an act of love, sacrifice and compulsive self-restraint. 

Clean is a story about a Thai cleaner, Lawan (56), and her client, Mr Söderberg, who’ve developed a kind of mother-son relationship during the time Lawan has worked for him. She is the caring mother he never had and he is the successful son she wished she had. We get to follow them on the night of December 13th when their relationship is really put to the test. 

In Mr. Söderberg's dark basement, I want to explore the common denominators of sex drive and aggression, and show his ambiguous relationship to women. How he on the one hand puts women on pedestals and worships them for their beautiful looks but on the other hand hangs them by their ankles in his basement. 

The consistent theme in Clean is dominance and submission – from a sexual as well as a societal point of view. Lawan makes a living in a system that constantly keeps her in check. A system she cannot leave due to her lack of rights, cultural belonging and a social network to back her up. Is it possible to be in solidarity under these conditions?

Clean is an episode about a woman of the precariat, a nameless collective who is too strong for its own good. Lawan represents a group in our society that works hard, bites the bullet and refuses to see themselves as victims of the dark reality given to them. 

Is a story that, on the surface, revolves around a cleaning lady who’s trying to escape the violence of a serial killer. Underneath all this are two thematic stories that, to me, are far more essential. One is a criticism of the gig economy that in recent years has grown strongly in Sweden, while the other is a brutal depiction of men's violence against women. What environment is better suited to depict this than in the home? 

I want to create a dark story in a bright environment. The villas Lawan visits are bright, beautiful and outside the snow glows white. The color white becomes a symbol of the Western culture and wealth Lawan only gets to see but never to be a part of. I also like the idea of using snow as a form of antagonist that first reveals her footprints in the ground and then covers them up again. For me, the snow becomes a symbol of how easily we neglect injustices that only affect those at the bottom of society.

I want the basement to be macabre, filled with blood and horror. It’s a representation of misogyny and a place where the young women are slaughtered with the same cruelty as the animals we eat every day. It is a place hidden from the polished surface of the upper floor. But it’s also a representation of sexuality and Mr Söderberg’s darkest desires. That combination creates an ambiguity to the moral of the story that I find interesting.

A large part of the discomfort in the film is based on the horror of not being able to make oneself understood. I will portray this partly through the fact that Lawan does not know the language, but also that she is not included as part of the Swedish culture and is therefore not seen as an equal citizen. This is a horror scenario and a reality many Swedes are forced to live with on a daily basis that I think many will be able to identify with. Due to the few spoken lines in the film, our ambition is for the audience to be able to understand the story regardless of your knowledge of Swedish.

For me as a director, the most important thing is to portray the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped in a relationship or in a system that you can’t get out of. Regardless of what you choose, you will still end up in the same place. A place where you're forced to punch down in order to move up and avoid being thrown out of the system entirely. A place where the illusion of freedom will have been destroyed and where you are constantly forced to choose the least painful thing for the moment.

These conditions are pushed to their very limit when Lawan chooses to protect Mr. Söderberg instead of protecting Udom, who comes to her rescue. Through her choices I want to show that it is not possible to be in solidarity when the predicament is forcing you to constantly stay above the surface. If you don’t give people fair options, what choice do they have?

SYNOPSIS

FEBRUARY 29th 2023 - Heavy snowfall. Snowflakes swirl through the air and falls on a slush-covered road. Through the snow we see a bike in full speed. The slush splashes yet the biker is completely indifferent. He’s in a hurry. He is dressed in pink from top to bottom with a large Foodora-bag on his back. He is biking through Stockholm City.

CLEANING MONTAGE (before December 13th 2022) LAWAN (56) a Thai cleaning Lady, is bent over a toilet cleaning it. She is wearing blue plastic gloves, sweatpants and a large white t-shirt with the label ”Handy Heroes” on the back. She is refilling soap in beautiful soap pumps, changes towels, vacuums floors, mops floors, accidentally steps on a piece of Lego and gets really hurt in her foot. She dusts off keyboards, finds a buttplug in a bed and carefully puts it on the table next to the bed. Nothing weird about that, she's seen worse. She’s constantly in different homes and houses, yet her task is always the same, to keep it tidy, clean and nice.

In a family with children the floor is so full of toys so Lawan is unsure where to even begin. In another home a man is walking around naked, shamelessly unbothered by Lawn’s presence. It’s like she wasn’t even there. The third home is spotlessly clean, she could enjoy some rest if she wanted to, maybe sit down and read a book. Yet she doesn’t. She is loyal to her work and her employer. Hard work always pays off.

In the middle of cleaning she discovers a small fly, trying to get out. She is surprised due to it being winter and flies are a rare sight for the season. The fly hits its dumb little head into the window, over and over, hoping to get outside. But it can’t. The window is shut and will stay that way. These windows can not be opened. They are a modern design created in order to be able to regulate the temperature from the inside, rather than opening the window to the backyard. As she is leaving another home a WOMAN (45) walks up to her saying ”Next time, make sure you wash the sheets with unscented detergent, my son has sensitive skin and could develop a rash.”. Lawan looks perplexed at the woman and says ”no Swedish”. The woman sighs irritated, then she points at the detergent and says ”no”. Lawan answers ”no wash?”, the woman becomes even more frustrated and says ”Yes.. but no.. whatever...”. The woman leaves since she’s unsure on how to express herself in English.

DECEMBER 13TH, 2022 Inside a modern kitchen, MR SÖDERBERG (39)cooks food for his Tinder date. Lawan is just about to leave when she sees him struggling with the cooking. During the weeks Lawan has worked for Mr. Söderberg, they have developed a kind of mother-son relationship without really acknowledging it. Lawan can't take seeing him fail miserably. She walks over to the stove and removes the pot that is about to boil over, then lowers the temperature. Tastes the food and adds a few simple ingredients that makes the stew excellent. Mr. Söderberg happily accepts her help. He looks at her as he would look at the caring mother he never had. For a brief moment their glances meet in some kind of wordless understanding of each other.

Then the doorbell rings and Mr. Söderberg goes to open it. Lawan accompanies him to the hallway to get dressed and go home. Mr. Söderberg welcomes his new date ALICE (20) and immediately starts showering her with compliments about her beautiful appearance. She is even more beautiful in real life than in the pictures. Alice loves the attention she gets. Then he introduces her to Lawan and calls her "part of the family", which Lawan doesn’t pick up on as she doesn't understand Swedish. Alice can tell from Lawan's looks that they’re not related, but smiles kindly at her. As soon as Mr. Söderberg leaves, Alice hands Lawan her coat as a way of marking their socio-economic differences, she then enters.

Lawan is left standing with the coat in her arms. When she is about to put the coat on a coat hanger Mr Söderberg emerges with a last errand. He asks her to clean his car before she leaves with the words ”extra cash, yes?”. It’s late and Lawan wants to head home, yet Mr Söderberg’s pleading look convinces her to stay. She nods and gets a huge smile and the key to his Tesla, parked in the garage.

Lawan is standing in a lighted garage that holds three cars, a Tesla, a Mercedes and an old station wagon. She doesn’t make any notification that the station wagon is an odd fit in Mr Söderberg’s collection. She just wants to go home. While she is cleaning the floor in the back seat of the car, she sees something strange. There is a large tuft of hair lying on the floor. Lawan ponders the tussen lying there, but she decides not to attach much importance to what caused it to end up there. She has seen much stranger things than this.

The subway car is almost empty. It has been a long day and Lawan is close to falling asleep despite the bright light of the fluorescent lights. ”Next Hässelby Strand” is heard from the speakers, soon home. A little further don in the subway car, she sees three drunk men dressed as starboys (readers note: a way for boys to dress at the Swedish Lucia ceremony, white dress, pointed long hat with three stars on it, and a starred wand in his hand)arguing about who should pay who after the night’s drinking. She looks in her jacket packet for her cell phone when she picks up the car keys for Mr Söderberg’s Tesla. Damn. She sighs heavily, gets off at the next station and returns to Mr Söderberg.

She walks across Mr Söderberg’s large estate. It has started to snow. The heavy snowflakes have already formed a thick layer of white snow that surrounds the entire garden. Loud music can be heard from the house. Lawan rings the bell but the sound of the doorbell drowns in loud music. Since she has her own key, she opens with is and enters. She calls out for him but gets no answer. He is neither in the kitchen nor in the living room. Maybe she should just leave the key on the table and go home? Then she notices something strange. A doos she has never seen before is open and light is coming out. She walks towards the door, leading to a basement she didn’t know existed. Going against her urge to just leave, she walks down the stairs. The music softens and she is struck by a pungent stench that she can’t place.

She goes down into the basement. At first she only sees two large spinning washing machines. She continues further in and opens another door, that is ajar... When she opens the door, she sees something she wished she would never have experienced. From the ceiling in the room large iron scaffolding are hanging, from these scaffolding hangs the bodies of dead women. They are chained by their feet and hang upside down. Their throats are slit open and the bodies have been drained from blood. Lawan has stepped into a slaughterhouse of young women. She covers her mouth and is close to throwing up. The smell, the blood, the dead bodies are just too much. She freezes, but knows that she has to get out of here. Then she suddenly hears a sound. She takes a few steps in and sees that at the far end of the room, Alice is sitting on the floor completely naked. She is chained by the hands and feet and stands on all four like a cow, a tied down animal. Her mouth is taped and she has a large cowbell around her neck that would make the slightest sound if she moved. Alice can’t say anything, yet she has seen Lawan and Alice’s eyes are desperate. Without words she asks Lawan to help her. Lawan is at a difficult crossroad. Should she risk her own life and help a woman she doesn’t know? She takes a few steps back, no, it’s not possible.. The girl is already lost. As soon as Lawan turns around, she hears Alice’s attempt to call for help. The heartfelt cry makes Lawan realise that she needs to help her.

Lawan walks up to Alice and tries to pull her hands out of the shackles, but it doesn’t work and Alice writhes in pain. The Lawan has a sudden flash of genius. She is still wearing her work outfit. She puts her hands in her pockets and finds that she still has some of her refill soap. She takes one the soap and smears Alice’s hands with it. They try again and Alice gets one hand out. She does the same thing with the other hand while constantly looking towards the door. Mr Söderberg may come down any second and it won’t be long before they hear his heavy steps in the stairs...

Lawan pours soap on Alice’s feet but doesn’t have time to do anything more, she has to hide to avoid being discovered. She crawls into a large dryer. Mr Söderberg’s steps are approaching and Alice desperately tries to break free on her own. She pushes with everything she has to free her feet. But she’s out of time. He’s already in the room, seeing what’s going on. She has no chance against him. He tapes her hands and unlocks her shackles. She tries to wriggle out of his grip, but he is much stranger than she is. Then he lifts her up and down and hangs her feet in the hooks in the ceiling. She screams in pain. Lawan closes her eyes, she doesn’t want to see this. The screaming stops and she dares to open her eyes again. Then she sees Alice hanging upside down, just a few meters from her. Their eyes meet just before Alice gets her throat slit. The blood splatters and leaves traces on the dryer that Lawan is hiding in. Mr Söderberg stands up and sees the blood gushing onto the floor. Alice’s body still gives out a few last twitches. He takes a step forward and sees her hands. Then he smells them. He feels that they smell of soap. At this moment, Mr Söderberg realizes that Alice has not been alone... He heads up the stairs to look for Alice’s helper.

Lawan climbs out of the dryer, she looks around. There are no windows here, it is impossible to get out. She has to go up the stairs and upstairs where Mr Söderberg is looking for her. When she gets up, she notices that he has turned off the music. She can hear him opening and closing doors. She sneaks through the hallway aiming to get to the front door. Then she hears that he has turned around and is heading towards her. She has to make a quick decision, she opens the door to the scrubber and hides there. She cowers among spray bottles and cleaning agents. He opens the door. She doesn’t dare to breathe. But he doesn’t see her, slams the door shut and continues his search. Lawan exhales but at the same time realizes that it is too risky to leave. Then she sees a tiny window inside. It can be opened. The window is her only way out.

She has to climb up to the top shelf of the cleaning cabinet without knocking anything over and then squeeze herself out of the tiny window, leading out to the snow-covered garden. She succeeds. With great efforts she crawls out and as soon as she gets on her feet she runs for her life.

Mr Söderberg is busy looking for Lawan when he looks out of one of his large windows facing the garden. It is completely empty. Snowflakes fall slowly through the air. Then he sees tracks in the snow. Someone seems to have run across the garden very recently. He runs out into the hall and grabs a jacket on his way.

Lawan is running for her life as the snowflakes whip her face. She constantly glances back in panic to see if he has caught up with her. Suddenly she sees a car turning into the road. That’s him. She runs faster. But she can’t outrun a car. Then she sees a small church that lights up the winter darkness. It is her only hope.

The church’s warm light pulsates out onto the street. Beautiful hymns from a youth choir can be heard from the inside. Today is the 13th of December and in the church a Lucia procession is held. At the altar , the young women stand lined up. They all wear white linen and have a red ribbon on their hips. Their faces are illuminated by the candles they hold. At the front Lucia herself is standing, in long blond hair and with a crown of white burning candles.

They sing the Swedish hymn ”Gläns över sjö och strand”. The melancholic choir is in unity with the cold stark winter that surrounds them. There is a blissful atmosphere in the room and everyone’s focus is on these beautiful youngsters and their clear voices that echo against the vaulted walls of the church.

Suddenly the door opens and Lawan runs in. The singing stops and everyone turns around. Lawan screams, shouts and pleads for help in every way she can. A serial killer is chasing her and they have to call the police. But this Swedish congregation does not understand her. She speaks in Thai and no-one understands her language. Her words are of no use in this room. She looks toward the sacred Lucia who looks back at Lawan with her beautiful, bright, blue eyes. She doesn’t understand her either. The door opens again and Mr Söderberg enters. He firmly grabs Lawan who is screaming in panic. In front of everyone, he apologizes for his alcoholic wife who had too much to drink tonight. The congregation down’t really know what to believe. But Mr Söderberg is well-dressed and sophisticated. Lawan appears crazy and desperate. But above all, he calmly and confidently speaks a language they understand. They are part of the same culture and therefore they choose to believe his words, because hers are incomprehensible.

He drags Lawan out of there and as soon as the doors closes, the Lucia collapses. She has suffered a lack of oxygen from holding the light too close to her face. The crowd is then focused on the passed out Lucia, while Lawan is dragged out to the car and into the trunk.

Lawan lies completely silent and still in the dark trunk. She hears the sound of tires against the soft snow. Something in her gaze has changed. As if she has lost all hope...

Lawan gets dragged across the snow-covered yard and into the house. But she hardly resists. She has lost all hope of rescue. Mr. Söderberg flings the door open and walks in with Lawan dragged behind him. A little further down the road, a delivery guy from Foodora UDOM (19) rides his bike makes a turn on Mr. Söderberg’s driveway. When he arrives at the front door he finds it ajar and begins to sense that something is not right. He steps into the hallway and sees traces of (thawed) snow leading into the house. He takes a few more steps.

Then he sees Mr. Söderberg dragging Lawan across the floor. Mr. Söderberg turns around and realizes that he has been caught red-handed. Without hesitation, Mr. Söderbarg approaches Udom and delivers a blow, but Udom defends himself and hits back. Lawan sits completely stiff on the floor and does not know what to do.

In horror, she watches the fight between the two men unfold. Despite everything that has happened, it hurts her to see Mr. Söderberg being humiliated this way in his own house. Udom gives a good resistance despite his young age, which Mr. Söderberg was not at all prepared for. Then it happens. Bang! Udom falls helplessly to the floor. Mr. Söderberg looks around disoriented and sees Lawan standing opposite him with one of his golf clubs in her hand. She has hit Udom in the head with his golf club and blood has splattered all over the white wall.

They stand there, looking at each other, breathing deeply. Taken by the situation. The aggressive look Mr. Söderberg previously had has been replaced by a look of gratitude and warmth. Udom’s blood runs slowly down the wall.

Outside, the snow continues to fall. Everything looks peaceful and beautiful. As if nothing had happened.

FEBRUARY 29TH, 2023 - Heavy snowflakes fall from the sky and land on a road covered in snow and slush. Through the snow we see a bike in high speed. The slush splashes, yet the biker is indifferent. He is in a rush. He is dressed all in pink and has a large Foodora bag on his back. He bikes through an urban environment, over a large motorway, along a smaller street and then he arrives at a large white villa. He stops his bike, walks up to the door and rings the doorbell.

He is just about to leave when Lawan opens the door. Lawan no longer wears the clothes from the company ”Handy Heroes”, but otherwise she looks as we remember her. She smiles at the Foodora courier and picks up the paper bag of takeaway food. The Foodora courier walks away, ready for the next pick-up. Lawan closes the door.

She walks through the entire mansion to Mr Söderberg’s home office. He is sitting by a computer and is completely in his work. She walks up to him and places the food on the table. Before she leaves the room, he lays his hand on hers, looks deep into her eyes and says ”Thank you”. She smiles warmly back and says ”go ahead” in Swedish. He continues his work and Lawan takes the paper bag and plastic cutlery into the kitchen.

In the kitchen, she routinely folds the paper bag and places it into the recycle box for paper, then she throws the plastic cutlery into the recycle bin for plastic. She then puts on a pair of noise- cancelling headphones and heads down into the basement.

In the basement we see a new victim, a naked WOMAN (22) chained to the floor. The woman tries to scream for help when Lawan emerges. But Lawan doesn’t hear her, she listens to music and chooses not to notice the suffering woman at all. Lawan walks up to the woman and coldly picks up her clothes from the floor and puts them in one of the large washing machines in the room. Then she takes out a mop and starts to mop the floor of the blood from another woman hanging from the ceiling. All the time, the vulnerable woman tries to reach through to Lawan, yet no-one is listening. Lawan is completely turned off and won’t help her.

When she is done with the floor, she cleans the mop, puts it in its place and leaves the woman in order to be able to continue with here chores on the upper level. She enters the living room and inspects everything to it looks tidy, clean and nice when she suddenly sees a small fly on the window. She is surprised because it is winter and it is unusual to see flies this time of year. The fly repeatedly rams it’s stupid lithely head into the glass, hoping that this time it might be able to get out. But it can’t. The windows is closed and will remain so. These windows can’t be opened, it is a modern design that has been constructed so you are able to regulate the temperature from the inside, rather than opening the window to your backyard. Lawan picks up a newspaper from the table and smacks the fly, hoping that at least one of them will end their torment.

THE END.

DIRECTOR

SaraKlara Hellström is an up-and-coming scriptwriter and director from the north of Sweden, Skellefteå. With a background in casting and scriptwriting she started to work with her own films. Her second short BROMANCE won the prestigious Dragon award for best Swedish short at Gothenburg film festival 2022. She's always had an interest in working within multiple styles and genres which has led to an honorable mention at Stockholm Filmfestival for the horror film CLEANSE, and Screen Talent Europe for pitching BROMANCE.

Watch Cleanse | pw - tvagning123

Bromance | pw - Bromance123

PRODUCER

After working at B-Reel Film and producing MIDSOMMAR, Patrik Andersson launched along with Jakob Abrahamsson, Mylla Films, a production company aiming to nurture local talent and stories, folklore and myths for an international audience. Their slate includes DEVASTATION, Sweden’s first gothic Western, and HOIN, a conspiracy thriller based on a hit Swedish podcast and penned by Jerker Virdborg (Netflix’s “Black Crab”). Mylla is also developing THE AQUANAUTS, an ambitious eco sci-fi series.