The Pillow Book

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

14K

YOUR RATING

Home Video Trailer from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Play trailer1:38

1 Video

43 Photos

Drama

A woman with a body-writing fetish seeks to find a combined lover and calligrapher.A woman with a body-writing fetish seeks to find a combined lover and calligrapher.A woman with a body-writing fetish seeks to find a combined lover and calligrapher.

Director
- Peter Greenaway
Writers
- Sei Shonagon
- Peter Greenaway
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

14K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Peter Greenaway
Writers
- Sei Shonagon
- Peter Greenaway
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 5 wins & 3 nominations total

Trivia
Ewan McGregor was uncomfortable about his parents watching the film, as he spends much of it being in the nude. His father took it well, and after seeing the film, responded to his son, via fax: "I'm glad you inherited one of my greatest attributes."

Goofs
Nagiko says early on that her mother taught her Mandarin. Later, she says that she went to Hong Kong to improve the Chinese her mother taught her. However, the majority of people in Hong Kong speak Cantonese, not Mandarin.

Quotes
Nagiko: How can I get pleasure writing on you? You have to write on me.
Jerome: Go on. Use my body like the pages of a book. Of your book.

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Con Air/Bliss/Buddy/The Pillow Book/The Quiet Room (1997)

Soundtracks
Offering to the Saviour Gompo
Performed by Buddhist Lamas & Monks of the Four Great Orders
Courtesy of Lyrichord Disks New York

User reviews106

Review

Featured review

8/10

A feast for the eyes

This is a beautiful movie visually, but you need to keep concentrating on what is happening. Don't ask why too much with this - the effect of actions is reason enough to take them. Vivan Wu is very good, as is Ewan McGregor, in a different role for him. It reminds you also of what are some of the best things about Japan, and what are some of the worst things about men. Well worth buying the DVD and watching over and over.