My wife doesn’t speak English well enough to really dig into a novel in English. I am sure she would do alright if she had to but the thing is that she isn’t much of a reader in the first place. I bought her a Spanish translation of Memoirs of a Geisha just as soon as it came out though, and she practically devoured it from cover to cover without putting it down.

Finally, I thought, when we went to see Memoirs of a Geisha together, she will understand what I’m talking about when I complain that a movie has failed to capture the essence of the book upon which it was based. Unfortunately for me and lucky for all the rest of us, Rob Marshall appears to have done as well at this as could possibly be expected.

Story:

Memoirs of a Geisha is an autobiographical account of the life of a famous Geisha. She was sold into slavery to a brothel as a young child from a fishing village and went on to become one of the most famous women in Japan. I guess it’s important to point out that Geishas are not really prostitutes in the western sense, I think “courtesan” might come closer to the idea of what Geisha is, but it’s still very different.

I have one complaint about this film, and that is a personal pet peeve about movies that expect us to believe that for instance, Japanese people alone together speak English to each other with heavy Japanese accents. I don’t need to be reminded with every line that I’m watching a movie that takes place in Japan between Japanese people. I think it would be fine for them to have good English pronunciation, as they no doubt speak Japanese flawlessly.

I understand that most likely the authentic Japanese cast made up of actors and actresses who are veritable gods in Asian cinema probably didn’t have perfect English pronunciation and no doubt this accounts for a good deal of the heavy accents in the dialogue, so ultimately I am forgiving.

Other than that the film is visually stunning, emotionally moving, culturally enlightening and historically informative.

A truly great achievement, particularly in a year where most major movie releases were ultimately disappointing.