The Sleeping Dictionary is a 2003 British-American romantic drama film written and directed by Guy Jenkin and starring Hugh Dancy, Jessica Alba, Brenda Blethyn, Emily Mortimer, and Bob Hoskins.

The film is about a young Englishman who is sent to Sarawak, Malaysia, in the 1930s to become part of the British colonial government.

[2] A young and naive Englishman, John Truscott (Hugh Dancy), goes to the British protectorate of Sarawak, Borneo (described as a "colony" in the film), to try to apply his father's work to the Iban society.

John tries to civilize the area, building schools and providing education for the Iban people, and encounters unfamiliar local customs.

John has to give up Selima, and go to Britain for a year's vacation and to meet the Bullards' daughter Cecilia (Emily Mortimer).

Cecilia demands to know more about Selima; John replies that she is married to Belansai and that the couple have a baby together.

The next morning, Henry reveals to John his past about his own 'sleeping dictionary', which resulted in the birth of another child: Selima.

As Belansai hurries off, John turns to Selima, asking to meet him at the dock so they can escape on the boat.

That night, Selima bashes Neville on the head, knocking him out, because he has attempted to attack her and force her.

He combined the story with the romanticised idea of young Britons being posted to jungle outposts and being "thrown in the deep end" when they had to learn the local language in express time.

The local Malaysian film production company for this feature was Southeast Asia Film Locations Services, whose Sri Lankan partner Chandran Rutnam had brought Steven Spielberg to Colombo to shoot Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

His Malaysian partner Edgar Ong was involved in the first major Hollywood feature made in Sarawak, Farewell to the King, in 1987.

This film was set when the third British White Rajah, Charles Vyner Brooke, was on the throne in Sarawak.

A few countries received a theatrical release of the movie, including Thailand, Indonesia, Canada, Japan and parts of Europe and the Americas.