The Pillow Book (film)
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| The Pillow Book | |
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| Directed by | Peter Greenaway |
| Written by | Sei Shonagon (book), Peter Greenaway (written by) |
| Starring | Vivian Wu, Ewan McGregor |
| Cinematography | Sacha Vierny |
| Editing by | Peter Greenaway, Chris Wyatt |
| Release date(s) | June 6, 1996 (USA), November 8, 1996 (UK) |
| Running time | 126 min |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Pillow Book is a 1996 film by UK director Peter Greenaway, which stars Vivian Wu as Nagiko, a Japanese model in search of pleasure and new cultural experience from various lovers. The film is a rich and artistic melding of dark modern drama with idealized Chinese and Japanese cultural themes and settings.
It co-stars Ewan McGregor as Jerome, an English translator who becomes Nagiko's favourite lover. Greenaway also wrote the screenplay, in addition to directing.
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[edit] Plot
A Japanese born model in Hong Kong, Nagiko (Wu) seeks a lover who can match her desire for carnal pleasure with her admiration for poetry and calligraphy. The roots of this obsession lie in her youth, when her father (Ken Ogata) would write characters of good fortune on her face. In an Englishman, Jerome (McGregor), she finds the partner with whom she can share her physical and her poetic passion, using each other's body as tablets for their art.
After Nagiko rejects Jerome out of jealousy for fear that he had rejected her for her father's publisher (see below). She wanted her work published but it was rejected by her father's enemy and former publisher, whom Jerome had homesexual relations with in the past, Jerome was to "persuade" the publisher to publish her works since they had a former relationship. During this "persuasion", Jerome appears to lose track of time and doesn't meet Nagiko, which she takes as rejection and betrayal of the worst kind, and refuses to meet him again. Jerome sinks into depression and meets with Nagiko's friend, desperate to find a way to get her to forgive him. Nagiko's friend suggests he take some pills, and knock himself out, similar to the fake death scene in Romeo and Juliet. Jerome takes the pills, overdoses and kills himself in her home. When Nagiko comes home and finds Jerome dead she is devasted, and realizes how much she loved him. His body is then stolen, by enemies of Nagiko's father (publisher). Nagiko becomes distraught and seeks to overturn the coercive influences which had made her reject happiness with Jerome. She hatches an elaborate and original plan to use the bodies of the Englishman and her other (would be) lovers to exact revenge upon her father's publisher by writing the "Pillow Book" on their flesh and then sending it to the publisher, who dishonoured her father with demands of homosexual favours in exchange for publication. The Publisher skinnes Jerome, and makes his flesh a book.
The title, "The Pillow Book", is in reference to a kind of Japanese diary, in which the story was made from the skin from Jerome's body, as an act of desecration. Upon recovering the "book" Nagiko writes a "The Pillow Book" on it, telling of her story. She is revealed to have been pregnant with Jerome's child, and is shown in the epilogue reading to that child from the book.
It is important to note that Nagiko's bi-cultural heritage plays a key role in this film. As a half-Chinese and half-Japanese woman, Nagiko navigates her dual cultures through physical and psychological exploration. Greenaway portrays this exploration subtly by mixing and switching Asian iconography.
[edit] See also
- The Pillow Book, a book of observations and musings recorded by Sei Shōnagon during her time as court lady to Empress Sadako during the 990s in Heian Japan
- List of movies set in Hong Kong
[edit] Soundtrack
- Autopsia-Colonia CD Including main theme from The Pillow Book film, Staalplaat
