The Pillow Book (film)

The Pillow Book is a 1996 film by British director Peter Greenaway, which stars Vivian 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 idealised Chinese and Japanese cultural themes and settings, and centres on body painting. The film features fullfrontal male nudity.

The films title, The Pillow Book, refers to an ancient Japanese diary written by Sei Shnagon, actual name believed to be Kiyohara Nagiko, from whence the protagonists name in the film.The film is narrated by Nagiko Vivian Wu, a Japanese born model living in Hong Kong. Nagiko seeks a lover who can match her desire for carnal pleasure with her admiration for poetry and calligraphy. The roots of this obsession lie in her youth in Kyoto, when her father Ken Ogata would write characters of good fortune on her face. Nagikos 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 Shnagons Pillow Book. Nagikos aunt tells her that when she is twentyeight years old, the official book of observations will be officially 1000 years old, and that she, Nagiko, will be the same age as Sei Shnagon when she had written the book in addition to sharing her first name. Nagiko also learns around this time that her father is in thrall to his publisher, Yajisan Yoshi Oida, who demands sexual favours from her father in exchange for publishing his work. ........

Source: Wikipedia