The Pillow Book

Ewan McGregor followed Trainspotting with this bewitching fusion of flesh and text, a visually erotic delight co-starring Vivian Wu.

As a child in 1970s Kyoto, Nagiko’s calligrapher father used her body to write a birthday message in paint. Now grown up and living in Hong Kong, she seeks a lover who will use her whole body as a blank canvas. English translator Jerome reverses roles and becomes the subject of her penmanship. They dream up a plan of creating a new Pillow Book, some 1000 years after Sei Shōnagon wrote her diary.

The Pillow Book marks a change in direction for Greenaway, with its modern soundtrack and its sensual, dynamic and spellbinding sensibility. With thanks to Film4.