As a child in Kyoto in the 1970s, Nagiko’s calligrapher father used her body to write a birthday message in paint. Now grown up and living in Hong Kong, she seeks a lover who will use her body as a blank canvas. English translator Jerome reverses roles and becomes the subject of her penmanship.

Adorning the screen with words as well as images, Peter Greenaway expands our conception of narrative cinema in this mysterious tale—one of his most sensual films. Gossamer textures evocative of paper and skin layer across this sexy study of artistic expression, starring a young Ewan McGregor!