Starring Vivian Wu, Ewan McGregor, Yoshi Oida, Ken Ogata. Written and Directed by Peter Greenaway.
A young Japanese girl enjoys a ritual where her father recites a story while he writes symbols on her face and back. Her mother also gives her a copy of the 1000 year old Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, which is the intimate personal diary of the thoughts, quotes and feelings of a lady-in-waiting in the Imperial Court. As the girl (Wu) grows up, she seeks a lover who can provide her the pleasure of writing on her flesh. She eventually finds a British copy writer (McGregor) who can satisfy her flesh writing needs (as well as some others). She decides to become a writer, but her first work is rejected by the publisher who published her father's work. She then decides to write her books on the body of willing men, and sends her first on her boyfriend - he becomes her pillow book. The publisher enjoys the male form (a lot), and readily agrees to publish her work, and has his trusty aides write down the words from the skin. She eventually writes thirteen different books on thirteen different men.
Like The Cook, The Thief, The Wife and Her Lover, the film is visually stunning. The skin (and there is plenty of naked male and female flesh - I know I saw way more of Ewan McGregor than I wanted), the books are filmed in a very poetic and sumptous manner. And Greenaway has a very interesting way of layering images on top of other images, and using black and white images with colour images. But as with his past films, the plot (what there is of it) is deliberately confusing. And this one is very slow moving. It lasts way over 2 hours, and definitely starts to drag after about the sixth book. Unless you are a Greenaway fan, this is not for you.
