- The Pillow Book (film)
Infobox_Film
name = The Pillow Book
caption =
director =Peter Greenaway
producer =Kees Kasander
writer = Peter Greenaway
starring =Vivian Wu Ewan McGregor Ken Ogata Yoshi Oida Hideko Yoshida Judy Ongg
music =
cinematography =Sacha Vierny
editing = Peter GreenawayChris Wyatt
distributor =
released =June 6 1996 (USA )November 8 1996 (UK)
runtime = 126 min
language = English
budget =
amg_id = 1:136354
imdb_id = 0114134|"The Pillow Book" is a 1996 film by UK director
Peter Greenaway , which starsVivian 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.Plot
The film's title, "The Pillow Book", refers to a medieval Japanese diary, the book of observations by
Sei Shōnagon .The film is narrated by Nagiko (Vivian Wu), a
Japan ese born model living inHong Kong . Nagiko seeks a lover who can match her desire for carnal pleasure with her admiration forpoetry andcalligraphy . The roots of this obsession lie in her youth inKyoto , when her father (Ken Ogata ) would write characters of good fortune on her face. Nagiko's father celebrates her birthday retelling the Japanese creation myth and writing on her flesh in beautiful calligraphy, while her aunt (Hideko Yoshida ) reads a list of "beautiful things" from Sei Shōnagon's the book of observations. Nagiko's aunt tells her that when she is twenty-eight years old, the official book of observations will be officially 1000 years old, and that she, Nagiko, will be the same age asSei Shōnagon when she had written the book (in addition to sharing her first name). Nagiko also learns around this time that her father is inthrall to hispublisher , "Yaji-san" (Yoshi Oida ), who demands sexual favors from her father in exchange for publishing his work.The publisher arranges Nagiko's wedding to his young
apprentice . Her husband (Ken Mitsuishi ), an expertarcher , resents Nagiko's love for books and her desire to read, in spite of his apprenticeship. He also refuses to indulge in her desires for pleasure, refusing to write on her body. When he discovers and reads Nagiko's pillow book, he is extremely resentful, tearing it to pieces. Insulted and enraged, Nagiko leaves him for good.Hiding from her husband, Nagiko moves to
Hong Kong . In spite of her aversion to the practice, she learns how totype in order to find work. Outside herapartment , a group ofactivist s regularly protest the publishing industry for the depletion offorests due to the need to make paper.After working as a
secretary at amodeling agency for a while, Nagiko's employer takes a liking to her and makes her one of his models. As a successfulhigh fashion model , Nagiko finally has the opportunity to explore her sexual desires of being written on. However, after several affairs, she feels dissatisfied with them all: either they have greatpenmanship and are lousy lovers, or vice-versa.One day, at the
Cafe Typo, Nagiko's favorite haunt, she meets Jerome (Ewan McGregor), a Britishtranslator . Intrigued by his knowledge, they go to a private space where she has Jerome write on her clothes and body in various languages. In spite of her interest, Nagiko dislikes Jerome'shandwriting and orders him out. Jerome totally shocks Nagiko, however, when he asks her to teach him, offering her to write on "his" body! Opening his shirt, he offers Nagiko to "Use my body like the pages of a book. Of "your" book!". Nagiko has never considered this aspect in her desires before: her lovers always write on "her" body. When she backs out and runs, Jerome laughs at her.Frightened but very intrigued by Jerome's suggestion, Nagiko has several
one-night stands in which she experiments writing on their bodies. One of the activists, admirer Hoki (Yutaka Honda ), aJapan esephotographer who adores her, begs Nagiko to take him as a lover. She explains she can't, as his skin's no good for writing: whenever she writes on him, the ink smears and runs. Hoki, not wanting Nagiko to keep carrying on like she is, suggests she try writing a book, offering to take it to a renowned publisher he freelances for. Nagiko likes this idea and writes her first book.Nagiko's book is returned, being told the book is "not worth the paper it's written on!". Insulted, Nagiko follows the address on the envelope to confront the publisher. Nagiko is shocked to discover that the publisher who rejected her work is in fact Yaji-san, her father's old publisher! What's more, the publisher has a young lover: Jerome!
Devising a plan, Nagiko decides that she will get to the publisher through Jerome. Meeting up with Jerome again, Nagiko discovers he has learned a few more languages, and his penmanship has greatly improved. Nagiko and Jerome spend several weeks exploring this, writing on each other and making love. Nagiko soon realizes that, in Jerome, she has found the perfect lover she has been searching for: the partner with whom she can share her physical and her poetic passion, using each other's bodies as tablets for their art.
Nagiko tells Jerome the truth and the whole story with the publisher. Jerome comes up with an idea: Nagiko will write her book on Jerome's body and Jerome will take it to the publisher. Nagiko loves the idea, and writes Book 1: The Book of The Agenda, in intricate characters of black, red, and gold, on Jerome, keeping her identity
anonymous . The plan is a success: Jerome sees the publisher and exhibits the book on his nude body, and the impressed publisher has hisscrivener s copy down the text.After telling Nagiko of the plan's success, Jerome tells Nagiko that he'll return to her as soon as the publisher, who was extremely aroused by the experience, lets him go. However, during his time with the publisher, Jerome appears to lose track of time and doesn't return to Nagiko. Nagiko, jealous, impatient, and angry, searches for Jerome, eventually finding him making love with the publisher. Nagiko takes this as rejection and betrayal of the worst kind, and immediately plots revenge.
On two Swedish tourists (
Wichert Dromkert andMartin Tukker ), Nagiko writes Book 2: The Book of TheInnocent and Book 3: The Book of theIdiot . Shortly afterwards, an old man (Wu Wei ) is running naked through the streets from the publisher's shop, bearing Book 4: The Book ofImpotence /Old Age . Book 5: The Book of theExhibitionist is delivered by a boorish, fat,hyperactive American (Tom Kane ; who was actually more interested in Hoki than Nagiko).Nagiko's revenge is a success. Jerome is furiously jealous, and comes to Nagiko's home to confront her. Nagiko refuses to meet him, however, and won't let Jerome in. Jerome's outrage soon turns to desperation as he begs her to talk to him, but she won't.
Jerome sinks into deep
depression and meets with Hoki at the Cafe Typo, desperate to find a way to get Nagiko to forgive him. Hoki suggests that he "scare" Nagiko by fakingsuicide , similar to the fake death scene in "Romeo and Juliet " and gives Jerome some pills.Arriving at Nagiko's home while she is away, Jerome takes some of the pills, then writes a page, as if writing a book. Each time he takes some pills, he writes another page, keeping track of how many pills he takes on each page. As the pills take effect, Jerome can write no more and lays on the bed, naked, holding a copy of Sei Shōnagon's the book of observations.
The plan is a success: when Nagiko returns home and finds Jerome, she rushes to him, eager to renew their relationship and continue their plans. However, the plan has worked too well: Jerome has
overdose d on the pills and is dead. Nagiko is devastated, and realizes how much she loved him. On his dead body, Nagiko writes Book 6: The Book of the Lovers.At Jerome's funeral, his mother (
Barbara Lott ), a snobbish, upper-class woman, tells Nagiko that Jerome always loved things that were "fashionable ". When she suggests that was probably why Jerome loved Nagiko, Nagiko strikes her.After the funeral, the publisher secretly exhumes Jerome's body from the tomb and has Jerome's skin, still bearing the writing, flayed and made into a grotesque pillow book of his own. Nagiko, now back in Japan, learns of the publisher's actions and becomes distraught and outraged. She sends a letter to the publisher, still keeping her identity a secret, demanding that particular book from the publisher's hands in exchange for the remaining books. The publisher, now obsessed with his mysterious writer and her work, agrees.
Nagiko, now pregnant with Jerome's child, proceeds to deliver the remaining books, sending the publisher Japanese men on which she has written them. Book 7: The Book of
Youth is almost destroyed and undecipherable when the publisher accidentally leaves the messenger (Daishi Hori ) out in the rain. Book 8: The Book of TheSeducer (Kheim Lam ) arrives shortly afterward. A young monk (Kinya Tsuruyama ) then arrives bearing Book 9: The Book ofSecret s, but the publisher and his staff have to search carefully on his body, as the book is written on all of the messenger's "secret" areas. When the next messenger (Rick Waney ) arrives, he is completely bare: no writing at all. As the publisher dismisses him as a hoax, the man sticks out his tongue, bearing Book 10: The Book ofSilence .The activists' protests come to an end when their truck hits a young wrestler (
Eiichi Tanaka ) bearing Book 11: The Book of TheBetray er, right outside the publisher's office. The next messenger (Masaru Matsuda ) simply drives by the office, giving little time to copy down Book 12: The Book ofBirth s andBeginning s.Finally, Book 13: The Book of the
Dead arrives on the body of aSumo wrestler (Wataru Murofushi ). In the book, which the publisher carefully reads, Nagiko finally reveals her identity, confronting the publisher with his crimes: blackmailing and disgracing her father, "corrupting" her husband, as well as Jerome, and what he's done to Jerome's corpse. The publisher, now humbled by being confronted with his guilt, hands the pillow book made of Jerome's skin to the messenger, then has the messenger slit his throat. Upon recovering the book made out of Jerome's skin, Nagiko buries it under aBonsai tree and life goes on. She has given birth to Jerome's child (Hikari Abe ), and is shown in the epilogue writing on her child's face, like her father used to do when she was young, and quoting from her own pillow book. It is now Nagiko's 28th birthday.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.
Credits
Vivian Wu ... NagikoYoshi Oida ... The PublisherKen Ogata ... The FatherHideko Yoshida ... The Aunt / The MaidEwan McGregor ... JeromeJudy Ongg ... The MotherKen Mitsuishi ... The HusbandYutaka Honda ... HokiBarbara Lott ... Jerome's MotherMiwako Kawai ... Young NagikoLynne Langdon ... Jerome's sister (as Lynne Frances Wachendorfer)Chizuru Ohnishi ... Young NagikoShiho Takamatsu ... Young NagikoAki Ishimaru ... Young NagikoHisashi Hidaka ... CalligrapherDehong Chen ... CalligrapherHam-Chau Luong ... Calligrapher (as Ham Cham Luong)Akihiko Nishida ... Calligrapher (as Akihiro Nishida)Kentaro Matsuo ... CalligrapherNguyen Duc Nhan ... CalligrapherAugusto Aristotle ... CalligrapherRoger To Thanh Hien ... CalligrapherChris Bearne ... CalligrapherRonald Guttman ... CalligrapherWichert Dromkert ... The Book of the InnocentMartin Tukker ... The Book of the IdiotWu Wei ... The Book of Old AgeTom Kane ... The Book of the ExhibitionistKheim Lam ... The Book of the SeducerDaishi Hori ... The Book of YouthKinya Tsuruyama ... The Book of SecretsEiichi Tanaka ... The Book of the BetrayerRick Waney ... The Book of SilenceMasaru Matsuda ... The Book of Birth and BeginningsWataru Murofushi ... The Book of the DeadRyuke Azuma ... GrandmotherSeitaro Koyama ... NephewTatsuya Kimura ... NephewYoshihiko Nagata ... Husband's FriendAtsushi Miura ... Husband's FriendKazushi Ishimaru ... Baby NagikoHikari Abe ... Nagiko's BabyAi Kanafuji ... Nagiko's FriendYoshino Yoshioka ... Nagiko's FriendYuki Nou ... Nagiko's FriendMasami Nishio ... Nagiko's FriendSatomi Kimura ... Nagiko's FriendMichiko Matsuo ... Nagiko's FriendKintaro Murayama ... Nagiko's FriendAnn Kaoru Ueda ... ModelOhko ... ModelJunko Shinohara ... ModelYûko Nozawa ... Model (as Yuko Nozawa)Kiyomi Nomura ... ModelMidori Hatsuda ... Model
Miwa Hayashi ... Model
Seizo H. Inoue ... 10th Century Man (as Seizo Inoue)Yoshihiro Kawai ... 10th Century ManMunenari Takeshima ... 10th Century ManToshio Kimura ... 10th Century ManMasakazu Takemura ... 10th Century ManHiroshi Nakajima ... 10th Century ManKageyoshi Shirakata ... 10th Century ManTakashi Miyake ... 10th Century ManHiroko Uno ... 10th Century Woman
Yûko Shimomura ... 10th Century Woman (as Yuko Shimomura)Kana Haraguchi ... 10th Century WomanYuri Inoue ... 10th Century WomanMakiko Shoji ... 10th Century WomanMiwako Namie ... 10th Century WomanAtsuko Nakamura ... 10th Century WomanTokiko Horiike ... 10th Century WomanAkiko Yokotani ... 10th Century WomanYasuyo Ogawa ... 10th Century WomanAtsuko Yoshikawa ... 10th Century WomanMariko Ajimoto ... 10th Century WomanHiromi Tani ... 10th Century WomanFukue Kitaoka ... 10th Century WomanArnita Swanson ... Edele (as Arnita C. Swanson)Jim Adhi Limas ... Man in LiftMiho Tanaka ... Model Friend in Cafe TypoFabienne De Marco ... Model Friend in Cafe TypoTania De Jaeger ... Model Friend in Cafe TypoLu Jinhua ... Wife of CalligrapherTien Sing Wang ... IntruderChau See Wah Leung ... IntruderKha Kumi Komino ... Elderly SecretaryYuki Hayashi ... Young Female SecretaryMaskai Taketani ... Young Male SecretaryMr. Luo
Mrs. Luo
See Yan Leung ... Bookshop Manager
François Van Den Bergen ... Book of Seducer (as Francois Van Den Bergen)
Valerie Buchanan (as Valerie Buchanon)
Yorks Tong Anna Chu C.S. Wong Michelle Nicholson ... Model (as Michelle Leigh Nicholson)Farini Cheung (as Farini Chang)Anita Leung Fui Shan Tom Tom Doris Lui Lai Fong Sam Shuen Ngar Lei Chan Ben Bobsy Jureidini Andrew Chan Vanessa Lanza Chau Kwok Kwan Ho Keung Kwong Sammuel Leung Jo Jo Hui Louis Fu Yiu Shi Paul Wan Adrian Kwan Shun Fai Leung Woo Hui Pak Kin Man Kit (as Tony Wong Man Kit)Foon Wing Hong Li Chun Man Stephen C. Lam Edelmer Christanse Jimmy Lee Wai Chang Terence Tsin Chung Tung Mennan Yapo ... Café Typo Manager (uncredited)oundtrack
*
Autopsia -Colonia CD Including main theme from "The Pillow Book" film,Staalplaat Source: The International Movie Database [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114134/]
*"Offering to the Saviour Gompo"
Performed by Buddhist Lamas & Monks of the Four Great Orders
Courtesy of Lyrichord Disks New York
*"A Buddhist Prayer"Performed by Buddhist Lamas & Monks of the Four Great Orders
Courtesy of Lyrichord Disks New York
*"Invocations of Gompo"
Performed by Buddhist Lamas & Monks of the Four Great Orders
Courtesy of Lyrichord Disks New York
*"Ranryo Ou"
Court music of JapanPerformed by Tokyo Gasuko
Courtesy of Victor Entertainment
*"Nasori"
Court music of JapanPerformed by Tokyo Gasuko
Courtesy of Victor Entertainment
*"Manzairaku"
Court music of JapanPerformed by Tokyo Gasuko
Courtesy of Victor Entertainment
*"Wedding Song"
Performed by A Village Ensemble, Aqcha, Afghanistan
Courtesy of Topic Records Lrd
*"Blonde"
Performed by Guesch Patti & E. Daho
Courtesy of EMI Music Publishing France SA
*"La Marquise"
Performed by Guesch Patti & Dimitri Tikovoi
Courtesy of EMI Music Publishing France SA
*"La Chinoise"
Performed by Guesch Patti & Dimitri Tikovoi
Courtesy of EMI Music Publishing France SA
*"Taimu-Mashin no nai Jidai"
Performed by Cawai Miwako
Courtesy of Fun house Publihsers, Inc
*"Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car"
Written by U2Performed by U2
Courtesy of Polygram International
*"Sinfonia Concertante in A Fur Violine, Viola, Violoncello und Orchester"
Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, reconstructor Shigeaki SaegusaPerformed by Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, conductor Hans Guraf
Courtesy of May Music, Japan
*"Valse"
extract from The Frist String Quartet "La Theorie"Written by Walter HusPerformed by Quadro Quartet
Courtesy of Het Gerucht / Uncle Dan's
*"Je Suis La Resurrection"
Performed by Autopsia
Courtesy of Hypnobeat Records
*"Ai no Meguriai"
Performed by Judy Ongg
Courtesy of Nichion
*"Qui Tolis"
Extract from "Rome"Written by Patrick MimranPerformed by James Bowman
Courtesy of Wisteria Publishing, Amsterdam
*"Rose, Rose I Love You"
Performed by Yao Lee
Courtesy of EMI SE Asia Ltd
*"Teki Wa Ikuman"
Performed by Ichjiro Wakahar
Courtesy of King Records
*"Aiba Shingun-ka"
Performed by Hachiro Kasuga
Courtesy of King Records
*"Chicken Bandit-The-Blistered-Corn"
Performed by Lam Man Chun and Eric Tsang
Courtesy of New Melody Publishing/Bird and Child Ltd
*"Suiren"
Performed by Yasuaki Shimizu
Courtesy of Nippon Columbia Berlin
External links
*imdb title|id=0114134|title=The Pillow Book
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