Directed by Peter Greenaway | 126 mins | 1995
Made from animal skins, parchment has been used as a medium for language since ancient times; in Peter Greenaway’s sumptuous, Hong Kong–set fabulation, the human body is the preferred site of expression, and the act of inscription an erotic rite. Vivian Wu ("The Last Emperor") stars as a Japanese-born model in search of lovers who can indulge her twinned carnal and calligraphic desires; among them, a young translator played by Ewan McGregor.