The Pillow Book

The Pillow Book (1995) is Peter Greenaway's erotic art film — watch it online on iFILM. Starring Vivian Wu and Ewan McGregor, it takes its title from Sei Shōnagon's tenth-century Japanese diary, one of the earliest works of personal prose in literary history.

As a child, Nagiko's calligrapher father writes on her skin each birthday. Grown up, she seeks lovers who will continue the ritual, then turns it around and begins writing on their bodies herself. Her English translator Jerome becomes both lover and instrument: through him, she sends thirteen manuscripts to the publisher who destroyed her family — thirteen bodies, thirteen books, the last of them a book of death.

Greenaway layers text directly onto the image, splits the frame, and cuts against conventional narrative logic. The result is closer to a visual installation than a story — formally demanding and genuinely singular. Stream The Pillow Book online on iFILM.