Bleach (2002)

Summary
Moody urban thriller in which a good-looking loner works long hours as a London coach station cleaner, causing his hands to smell permanently of cleaning products. A chance encounter with a rich woman in a supermarket leads him into a dark, erotic world where bleach is an aphrodisiac and a human body is just one more item to trade.

Director
Carlton Estwick

Cinematographer
Greaves Talbot

Cast

 * Gryf Penton (Nic)
 * Wendy Mainwaring (Trina)
 * Sam Bathwest (Father Pro)

Top Trivia
This was Carlton Estwick's attempt to show his critics that he could do a complex and sexually-charged thriller. In an effort to purge his trademark good humour from the film, he instructed all actors that they were to look darkly pensive at all times. Even the cinematographer, Greaves Talbot, was told to point the camera 'darkly' and 'pensively'. The film's unit nurse administered paracetemol to crew members in a darkly pensive manner.

Notable Quotes
Nic: I don't know what you want from me, Mrs Yarmouth.

Trina: Please, Nic, you must call me Trina. Yes, stroke my face with your hands.

Nic: All you seem to care about is smelling my hands. Don't you think there's more in the world?

Trina: There's more in the world, and I've seen it. Trust me, I'm better off right here, with your bleach-tinged pinky in my nostril. That's it, twist it a little, sweetie.

Nic: What do they call it when you feel more like a loner being with someone than when you were alone?

Trina: Oh, oh yeah. That's the bleach. I must introduce you to my female friends.

Critical Reception

 * "Estwick's attempts at eroticism are laughable. My hands stayed firmly out of my pants." - Peter Garble, London Hurdy Gurdy
 * "You'll catch yourself in the bathroom, on your hands and knees, taking a whiff of your mop and bucket without even realising it." - Freya Wickes, Puce UK