Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Pillow Book Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 13, 2020

There’s a common refrain in many so-called “screenwriting courses” where students are urged to show rather than describe, in what is a patent admission of the probably already obvious fact that cinema is by and large a visual medium. In that regard, there are few film directors with the visual acuity of Peter Greenaway, due at least in part no doubt because of Greenaway’s early ambitions to be an artist. But The Pillow Book , while absolutely audacious in terms of the imagery it offers, also has a rather fascinating subtext, with an emphasis on text: as Greenaway gets into in his selected scene commentary, along with his fascination for painting, he’s been similarly obsessed with Japanese arts including silk screening and (especially) calligraphy, and calligraphy plays an absolutely integral part in the frankly bizarre story that The Pillow Book tells.

There is a plot underpinning The Pillow Book, but in a very real way, it may not matter all that much, since the film is such a riot of what Greenaway himself refers to, perhaps slightly jokingly, as a study in montage. A young girl named Nagiko (played by several different children at various ages) has a rather odd birthday tradition in her family: her father, a calligrapher, paints her body with celebratory text every year. Nagiko is also exposed (pun partially intended, given some more salacious aspects to the story which ultimately unfold) to an actual piece of Japanese literature, a diary called The Pillow Book written by Sei Shōnagon, a pseudonym for a woman who lived around the turn of the first millennium and whose real name was in fact Nagiko (just one reason many may sense a certain "meta" hierarchy in Greenaway's film).

In just the latest example of some really kind of weird synchronicities that seem to accrue around my review queue, The Pillow Book ended up reminding me of a rather different film dealing with Japanese body art that I recently watched and reviewed, Inferno of Torture. That frankly gonzo Teruo Ishii film dealt with Japanese women in a brothel who are forced to endure bodily tattoos because Western “clients” find them exciting. In a plot development which really isn’t explored and which might be perceived as being positively Freudian, an adult Nagiko (Vivian Wu) is herself excited (sexually and otherwise) by calligraphy on her body, and after an arranged marriage fails to spark any real passion, she sets out on a quest to find someone who exhibits the rather odd dual talents of skill in the bedroom and with a calligraphy pen.

That ultimately brings her into contact with an Englishman named Jerome (Ewan McGregor), and this relationship at least seems to have a chance for succeeding, even though Nagiko considers Jerome’s calligraphic acumen less than fulfilling. When Jerome offers his body for Nagiko’s calligraphy, things appear salvageable, but an old trauma involving a relationship between Nagiko’s father and the duplicitous man who publishes the father’s works rears its ugly head and things go from bad to worse.

Now, all of this content is certainly riveting, but, again as mentioned above, in a way it hardly matters. Just take a cursory glance through some of the screenshots accompanying this review, and at least some idea of the absolutely audacious visual proclivities Greenaway brings to this film may become apparent. Images are layered, swapped, toyed with and presented in a variety of aspect ratios and chromatics (some color, some black and white), all in an almost astonishing display. But it’s not just images: Greenaway also fills the film with text in both English and Japanese, with graphical elements often filling the frame.

The Pillow Book is probably not a film for the more prim minded, as it features some disturbing content vis a vis Nagiko's father and his publisher, as well as the publisher and Jerome. There's also a lot of full frontal female and male nudity in the film (arguably more of the latter than of the former), for those who are bothered by such presentations.

The Pillow Book Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Pillow Book is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Powerhouse Films' Indicator imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer (kind of) in 1.33:1. Powerhouse's insert booklet contains the following generic information on the transfer:

FilmFour's HD remaster was the source of this Indicator edition. The film's original stereo audio was remastered at the same time. The film's original calligraphic subtitles were recreated by Michael Brooke.

Additionally, a footnote in some of the technical data included in the insert booklet states:

The Pillow Book was shot in a variety of aspect ratios, which are intended to be presented within a 1.37:1 frame.

There's some really interesting and salient information on both the filming and editing of this film in the interview with Chris Wyatt included on this disc as a supplement, and some of the information he imparts may help fans to understand some of the variances in sharpness, clarity and detail levels that are on display here. Some of the imagery that fills the entire 1.33:1 frame can typically be quite nicely detailed, but in some of the "picture in picture" material or some of the superimposed sequences, things can just as often be fairly soft looking. There's very little damage of any major import, and the palette pops very well (with the black and white material featuring nicely modulated gray scale and appealing black levels). Graphical elements typically look sharp and well detailed.

The Pillow Book Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Pillow Book features a nicely rendered LPCM 2.0 track. Our specs only allow for one language, but another footnote in Indicator's insert booklet states the following:

In his foreword to the published screenplay, Peter Greenaway states the the film is in 'three major languages, English, Japanese and Cantonese, with contributions also in Mandarin and Vietnamese, and at least a few words in Dutch, French, Yiddish and Latin'.

The film's sound design is often as multilayered as its imagery, though the sonic aspect may arguably be more subliminal than the visuals. Dialogue, including some narration, as well as quotes from the real Pillow Book are all presented cleanly and clearly, and the film's extremely eclectic music also sounds full bodied and problem free.

The Pillow Book Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Selected Scenes Commentary by Peter Greenaway lasts for a bit over the first half hour of the film.


• Chris Wyatt: The Book of the Editor (1080p; 26:23) is a great interview with frequent Greenaway collaborator Wyatt.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:57)


• Image Gallery (1080p)


• Rosa (1080p; 15:50) is a Greenaway short from 1992 which might be thought of as a celebration of dance. This features some absolutely stunning black and white cinematography by Sacha Vierny. There's actually considerably more information about the restoration of Rosa in the insert booklet (a full page) than there is about the main feature.

The Pillow Book Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's an unabashedly lurid side to The Pillow Book that some viewers may potentially find off putting, but the underlying story and Greenaway's typical "layering" techniques (both in terms of imagery and "meta" references) keeps this film absolutely riveting from start to finish, even if its ultimate meaning may seem to elude Greenaway's grasp. The story is probably more than a little disturbing, but the unbelievably gorgeous (if at times also disturbing) imagery is often unforgettable. Technical merits are generally solid, and the supplements are very interesting. Recommended.