The Pillow Book (1996) on Netflix
Nagiko's father paints characters on her face in Kyoto. She grows up longing for a lover who will write on her body, and in Hong Kong she meets Jerome, a British translator.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb6.5/1014,339 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes67%
Trailer
Plot summary
Nagiko's childhood in Kyoto is spent with characters of good fortune painted on her face by her father, while an aunt reads aloud from an old pillow book. Yaji-san, her father's publisher, arranges her marriage to his apprentice, an archer who resents her books and will not write on her skin. Nagiko leaves him for Hong Kong and becomes a model, taking lovers who either write well or love well, never both. At the Cafe Typo she meets Jerome, a British translator, and has him write on her body in several languages. Unimpressed by his hand, she sends him away, but he answers by offering his own skin as a page for her writing.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Pillow Book (1996)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film takes its title from a real ancient Japanese diary, The Pillow Book, written by Sei Shōnagon, whose actual name is believed to have been Kiyohara Nagiko, the source of the protagonist Nagiko's name.
