The Pillow Book (1997)
80%RT Audience Score: 80%
Awards & Nominations: 5 wins & 3 nominations
The Pillow Book is undeniably sensual and visually ravishing, but the film’s narrative lacks the hypnotic pull of its imagery
The Pillow Book is like a fancy, high-end dessert that looks amazing but leaves you feeling a little empty inside. It’s visually stunning and definitely not lacking in the nudity department, but it’s also a bit pretentious and hard to fully connect with. Still, if you’re in the mood for some artsy erotica, it’s worth a watch. Just don’t expect to be emotionally satisfied afterwards.
Production Company(ies)
Mandeville Films, Walt Disney Pictures,
Distributor
Columbia Tristar
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Luxembourg
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
1997
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Dolby SR
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Aspect ratio:1.75 : 1
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Runtime:2h 3m
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Language(s):English, Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, French, Italian
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jun 6, 1996 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 15, 1998
Genre(s)
Romance
Keyword(s)
starring Vivian Wu, Ewan McGregor, Yoshi Oida, Ken Ogata, Hideko Yoshida, Judy Ongg, directed by Peter Greenaway, written by Sei Shonagon, Peter Greenaway, romance, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Lisa Alspector, Richard Corliss, Jami Bernard, Desmond Ryan, Michael Wilmington, Jay Boyar, Nicholas Bell, Leah Rozen, Maitland McDonagh, Rod Dreher, Chris Kridler, Tom Hutchinson, MPAA rating, produced by Kees Kasander, calligraphy, eroticism, visual art, diary, nudity, human form, mathematics, fine arts, puzzles, juxtapositions, visually titillating, introspective, boiling lavishness, sensual, visually ravishing, hypnotic imagery, undeniably sensual, narrative lacks hypnotic pull, metaphorical autobiography, rejects convention, dedicated aesthete, sensualist, cruelty, delight, artistic trickery, graphic artists, Star Wars completists, nudity, Columbia Tristar, Dolby, Surround, 35mm
Worldwide gross: $2,372,744
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $4,422,987
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,212
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 482,332
US/Canada gross: $2,372,744
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Ewan McGregor – Jerome
Yoshi Oida – The Publisher
Ken Ogata – The Father
Hideko Yoshida – The Aunt, The Maid
Judy Ongg – The Mother
Director(s)
Peter Greenaway
Writer(s)
Sei Shonagon, Peter Greenaway
Producer(s)
Kees Kasander
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
5 wins & 3 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (54) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (36) | Rotten (18)
One of the most accomplished chapters in Peter Greenaway’s quest to turn movies into books, this may be the writer-director’s metaphorical autobiography.
May 2, 2016
Lisa Alspector
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
In The Pillow Book, text and texture meet so exquisitely. Sex is a visual art, Greenaway says, and writing is a matter of life and death.
May 2, 2016
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
It is exciting that in an age of mass book signings and disrespect for literature, Greenaway is able to sexualize the author’s signature as it sweeps up a woman’s neck.
May 2, 2016 | Rating: 3/4
Jami Bernard
New York Daily News
TOP CRITIC
The Pillow Book is an experiment in the potential of film. It rejects convention and asks the viewer to forget traditions and entrenched assumptions. Those willing to go along will be hypnotized.
May 2, 2016 | Rating: 3/4
Desmond Ryan
Philadelphia Inquirer
TOP CRITIC
Greenaway is a dedicated aesthete and sensualist who creates his own little worlds of cruelty, delight and artistic trickery. With tremendous brio and skill, he cuts his patterns into our minds, tickling our skins with his brush.
May 2, 2016 | Rating: 3.5/4
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
I can, with many reservations, recommend The Pillow Book for graphic artists and, of course, for Star Wars completists. People who simply can’t get enough nudity might also want to take a look.
May 2, 2016
Jay Boyar
Orlando Sentinel
TOP CRITIC
As intricately assembled as all of Greenaway’s works, and representing one of the last films from famed DoP Sacha Vierney, The Pillow Book is worthy of a revisit, easily existing within its own timeless universe.
October 27, 2020 | Rating: 3/5
Nicholas Bell
IONCINEMA.com
Greenaway provides a visual feast, then he kills your appetite.
May 2, 2016
Leah Rozen
People Magazine
Seductive eye candy masquerading as thought-provoking art cinema.
May 2, 2016 | Rating: 2.5/5
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide
Pillow Book may be a dull, heartless, cruel film, but for what it’s worth, it looks marvelous.
May 2, 2016
Rod Dreher
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The Pillow Book is erotica for bookworms. Its poetic story is told brush stroke by brush stroke, in calligraphy painted on naked bodies and in the “pillow book” or diary of Nagiko (Vivian Wu).
May 2, 2016 | Rating: 3.5/4
Chris Kridler
Baltimore Sun
Extraordinary. Ravishing. Preposterous.
May 2, 2016 | Rating: 4/5
Tom Hutchinson
Radio Times…
Plot
As a young girl in Japan, Nagiko’s father paints characters on her face, and her aunt reads to her from “The Pillow Book”, the diary of a 10th-century lady-in-waiting. Nagiko grows up, obsessed with books, papers, and writing on bodies, and her sexual odyssey (and the creation of her own Pillow Book) is a “parfait mélange” of classical Japanese, modern Chinese, and Western film images.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
No goofy or funny or odd comments were found in the Fresh Kernels reviews for The Pillow Book.
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