Drama

Romance

The Pillow Book

Kasander & Wigman Productions

Alpha Films

Nederlands Fonds voor de Film

Woodline Films Ltd.

Film4 Productions

Canal+

France

United Kingdom

Netherlands

English

Italiano

日本語

普通话

Français

广州话 / 廣州話

Vivian Wu

Yoshi Oida

Ken Ogata

Hideko Yoshida

Ewan McGregor

Yutaka Honda

Judy Ongg

Ken Mitsuishi

Barbara Lott

Lynne Langdon

Ronald Guttman

Samuel Leung Cheuk-Moon

Adrian Kwan

Peter Greenaway

Chris Wyatt

Sei Shonagon

Sacha Vierny

Ben Zuydwijk

Kees Kasander

Hitomi Ishihara

Liora Reich

Abi Cohen

Aimi O

Kôichi Hamamura

Carrie O'Brien

Wilbert Van Dorp

Koji Tatsuno

Vivian Nowak

Cathy Folmer

Hiroto Oonogi

Martin Margiela

Sara Meerman

Noriko Sato

Cliff Jones

Julian Slater

Willemijn Loivers

Noriyuki Tanaka

Andrée Putman

Dien van Straalen

Seiji Arai

Shoko Ishigaki

Kyoko Toyokawa

Otto Snel

Terry Glinwood

Denis Wigman

Jean-Louis Piel

Brian Eno

Tom Reeve

CinemaSerf

Hmmm. The thing about films that showcase the male body quite this much is that after a while you start wondering why blokes with perfect physiques and faces always seem to have such an underwhelming payload down below! Anyway, the young "Nagiko" (Vivian Wu) recalls the memories from her childhood when her father used to paint some delicately elegant calligraphy on her face. These perfectly crafted characters - and some accompanying and wonderfully enigmatic stories, all emanated from the works of a lady-in-waiting at the 10th century Heian court in Japan. Subsequently, as an adult she is fascinated by this form of art, and with painting the bodies of those who share her rather lively sex life. "Jerome" (Ewan McGregor) has slovenly hand-writing that drives her mad, but soon they are enthralled with each other and he becomes one of the the more willing partners joining in with her games of sex and scribe-work. There's no doubt that some of the body work she creates would be the envy of many a modern day tattooist. Now there's got to be a twist - and soon she discovers that "Jerome" likes his oysters and his snails - and that he is having a dalliance with a publisher who made life difficult for her father. She sees an opportunity to not just get even, but to get her own book out there too. The presentation, like the book, is delivered in chapters. That's not always the easiest to follow, nor are they in anyway chronological - the narrative has a rather rambling mind of it's own sometimes and that does undermine the literary value of this leaving us with a story that does jar occasionally. Essentially, in the end it's a gorgeously photographed aesthetic that works well sometimes, not so well others. It's not a great story, but it's a creative and visionary look at the beauty of the male body - and personality - as seen through a woman with love, lust and revenge in her eyes. Bizarrely compelling to watch - it could have done without any dialogue at all and just been presented as a soundtrack-only piece of attractive cinema.

Mark Kermode reviews The Pillow Book (1996) | BFI Player

The Pillow Book (1996) trailer

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The Pillow Book

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Cast

Vivian Wu

Yoshi Oida

Ken Ogata

Hideko Yoshida

Ewan McGregor

Yutaka Honda

Judy Ongg

Ken Mitsuishi

Barbara Lott

Lynne Langdon

Box office

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