Memoirs of a Geisha (film)

Memoirs of a Geisha is a 2005 American epic drama film adaptation of the novel of the same name, produced by Steven Spielbergs Amblin Entertainment and Spyglass Entertainment and by Douglas Wicks Red Wagon Productions. The picture was directed by Rob Marshall and was released in the United States on December 9, 2005 by Columbia Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures. DreamWorks was given studio credit only. It stars Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, Youki Kudoh, and Suzuka Ohgo. Production took place in southern and northern California and in several locations in Kyoto, including the Kiyomizu temple and the Fushimi Inari shrine.

The film tells the story of Chiyo Sakamoto Suzuka Ohgo, a poor Japanese girl who has been sold along with her older sister Satsu Samantha Futerman into a life of servitude by her parents. Chiyo is taken in by the proprietress of a geisha house, Mother Kaori Momoi from the most prominent geisha districts in Kyoto. However, Satsu is rejected because she is perceived as less attractive in both looks and demeanor. Instead she is sold to another house in Kyotos pleasure district and forced to become a prostitute. At the okiya, she meets another young girl named Pumpkin, the cranky Granny, and also has numerous unpleasant runins with the okiyas senior geisha, Hatsumomo Gong Li. Hatsumomo quickly dislikes Chiyo because she sees a potential rival who may threaten her place in both the okiya and Kyoto, along with being a change of dependence to Mothers financial future. She goes out of her way to destroy Chiyo by making her do her dirty work. However, Auntie Tsai Chin is aware of this and warns Chiyo against trusting Hatsumomo, due to personal experience with the illmannered geisha.Chiyo conspires with Satsu to run from their new lives in Kyoto. She returns to the okiya and discovers Hatsumomo in the shed having sex with her boyfriend, Koichi Karl Yune, a livelihood situation that threatens her position as a geisha, whose air of unattainability is crucial to their allure. Koichi runs away and Hatsumomo attempts to twist the situation by accusing Chiyo of stealing. However, Mother doesnt believe her and Chiyo then informs Mother of what she saw in the shed. Although she is punished, Hatsumomo is also banned from seeing Koichi again and therefore increasing her hatred for Chiyo. On the night of their planned escape, Chiyo falls off the rooftop and is injured. Mother finds out about Chiyos escape attempt and is enraged with her for dishonoring the okiya, along with incurring further medical costs. She also informs Chiyo that her parents are dead and that she wont invest any mo

Source: Wikipedia