The Pillow Book
England / Japan / France,
1996, 123 min
Shown in 1997
CREDITS
- dir
-
Peter Greenaway
- prod
-
Kees Kasander
- scr
-
Peter Greenaway
- cam
-
Sacha Vierny
- editor
-
Chris Wyatt, Peter Greenaway
- cast
-
Ewan McGregor, Vivian Wu, Yoshi OIda, Ken Ogata, Hideko Yoshida, Judy Ongg, Ken Mitsuishi, Yutaka Honda
- source
-
Cinepix Film Properties, 900 Broadway, Suite 12BC, New York, NY 10012. FAX: 212-966-2544
- premiere
-
U.S. Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Peter Greenaway appeared in person.
OTHER
Peter Greenaway’s The Pillow Book is a sensual story of calligraphy as erotica that defies as many cinematic traditions as the original Pillow Book by 11th century writer Sei Shongon did literary ones. Nagiko’s most treasured memory is of her father, a calligrapher, painting traditional birthday greetings on her face. He did this every year until her arranged marriage to an abusive, literature-hating man. Now, Nagiko has fled her home and husband to become a model in Hong Kong. She takes on a string of lovers, but values her paramours solely for their calligraphic skills, encouraging them to write on her naked body. Finally, her youthful urge to become an author herself resurfaces, but she finds she cannot write on paper; she must use flesh. Her efforts lead to a dangerous romantic triangle with a young photographer and an English writer (Ewan McGregor of Trainspotting) who uses his naked body to convey Nagiko’s writing to a publisher. Greenaway freely intermingles color, tinting, black-and-white; varying screen widths, superimposition and frames within frames to relate Nagiko’s sensual story and to create an unorthodox, erotic pillow book of his own.
—Dimitri Eipides
FACTOID #361
John Huston, director of classics The Maltese Falcon and The Misfits, was honored with a Festival tribute in 1968. His daughter Anjelica received the Peter J. Owens Award in 1991; The Dead, one of the father-daughter duo’s collaborations, screened at her onstage interview.
