Friday, August 29, 2003
Have you ever seen The Pillow Book?
It is a beautiful story of two people who meet in a woman's desire for writing, or rather, her desire to be written on.
Peter Greenaway (for it is indeed he) writes: 'We are speculating about an erotic fantasy that combines two limitless fascinations, flesh and literature.'
The film is loosely based on Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book, which is full of lists and thoughts and dreams. Greenaway makes his own lists, including:
"Elegant Things.
A white coat worn over a violet waistcoat by a lover
on his second night-time visit.
Duck eggs..."
(...)
"Shaved ice mixed with liana syrup and put in a new
silver bowl.
Wistaria blossoms.
Plum blossom covered with snow.
A pretty child eating strawberries."
I'm in awe of the film and the text. The relationship between body and text is a bottomless pit. And if one reads the body as a text (and the text as a body), marvellous, surprising discoveries can be pulled out of that pit.
A friend of mine has a body like a cage. He is short and dark and bony, albeit with a bit of a beer-belly on him. He doesn't move much, so he is not very muscular, but when you hug him, you can feel his rib cage clearly through the skin. He feels like a box full of secrets that cannot be guessed through the bones.
Another friend is broad and big - but very muscular and there is a sense of all his organs when hugging him, even carefully.
"[The main female character] misses authorship, and lovers who might be authors, and the touch of the inkbrush and the pen on her flesh."
More about this later.
It is a beautiful story of two people who meet in a woman's desire for writing, or rather, her desire to be written on.
Peter Greenaway (for it is indeed he) writes: 'We are speculating about an erotic fantasy that combines two limitless fascinations, flesh and literature.'
The film is loosely based on Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book, which is full of lists and thoughts and dreams. Greenaway makes his own lists, including:
"Elegant Things.
A white coat worn over a violet waistcoat by a lover
on his second night-time visit.
Duck eggs..."
(...)
"Shaved ice mixed with liana syrup and put in a new
silver bowl.
Wistaria blossoms.
Plum blossom covered with snow.
A pretty child eating strawberries."
I'm in awe of the film and the text. The relationship between body and text is a bottomless pit. And if one reads the body as a text (and the text as a body), marvellous, surprising discoveries can be pulled out of that pit.
A friend of mine has a body like a cage. He is short and dark and bony, albeit with a bit of a beer-belly on him. He doesn't move much, so he is not very muscular, but when you hug him, you can feel his rib cage clearly through the skin. He feels like a box full of secrets that cannot be guessed through the bones.
Another friend is broad and big - but very muscular and there is a sense of all his organs when hugging him, even carefully.
"[The main female character] misses authorship, and lovers who might be authors, and the touch of the inkbrush and the pen on her flesh."
More about this later.
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