Director
Peter Greenaway
Leading Actors/Actresses
Vivian Wu, Ewan McGregor
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Yoshi Oida, Ken Ogata
Genre
Drama
Language
English
Awards
N/A
Date of Release
1996
Producer
Kees Kasander
Setting and Context
Hong Kong, 1996
Narrator and Point of View
The point of view is that of Nagiko.
Tone and Mood
Serious, dramatic
Protagonist and Antagonist
The publisher is the antagonist. Nagiko is the protagonist. Jerome is both protagonist and antagonist.
Major Conflict
Nagiko leaves her husband and begins working in Hong Kong. She begins a romance with Jerome who seeks to help her get her book published, but she finds out Jerome is sleeping with the publisher, the same man who blackmailed her father for sexual favors.
Climax
Jerome commits accidental suicide (an attempt to get Nagiko back), and Nagiko goes to the publisher to reveal all of his atrocities he's perpetrated on people. It creates a great shame and guilt in the man who has a messenger cut his throat. Nagiko has a child which was born from her relationship with Jerome and she writes upon their face just as her father did for her as a child.
Foreshadowing
Nagiko's husband burning down their home foreshadows that Nagiko's life will continue to be burnt down.
Understatement
It is understated that Jerome is sleeping with the publisher.
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
N/A
Allusions
Jerome's pillow book being buried beneath a bonsai tree is an allusion to Nagiko attempting to bury her past and move on in peace with her life.
Paradox
Jerome agrees to help Nagiko get her words to the publisher on his body. The paradox is that Jerome is having an affair with the publisher while having a romance with Nagiko.
Parallelism
Nagiko writing on her child's face parallels Father writing on Nagiko's face as a little girl in the beginning of the film.
