When the Arthur Golden novel Memoirs of a Geisha was published a decade ago, I couldn’t wait to read it. I had heard some good buzz about the book, and when it reached #1 on the NY Times Bestsellers List, I went right out and bought it. I was completely captivated by the novel, so when the film finally came out after so many years of anticipation, I knew I had to see it.

The film, directed by Rob Marshall, tells the story of Chiyo, a girl who is sold by her father to a geisha training house when she is just seven or eight years old. At first Chiyo longs to get back together with her sister and find her father again (she doesn’t realize that she’s been sold), but after repeatedly failing in her attempts to escape, she gradually comes to accept her fate.

Chiyo’s life in the geisha house is very difficult, mostly because she has stirred the jealousy of Hatsumomo (played by Li Gong), who is considered the top geisha of the city. Hatsumomo constantly makes Chiyo the target of her ill will and tries to get her in trouble at every opportunity.

Then something happens to change the direction of Chiyo’s life forever. While lamenting the fact that she failed yet again to meet up with her sister and run away, Chiyo captures the attention of an older man (Ken Watanabe). He can see that she’s upset, so he buys her a treat and gives her some money wrapped in a handkerchief with his initials on it. Chiyo has never been treated kindly before, so she definitely takes notice of the Chairman. From there, she decides that she must become a geisha no matter what so that she can eventually become part of the Chairman’s social circle.

The rest of the film deals with Chiyo’s ascent to the top of the geisha ranks. She changes her name to Sayuri (and is played by Ziyi Zhang at that point), and becomes the most accomplished and sought-after geisha in old Kyoto. Sayuri does everything in the hopes of meeting the Chairman once again and declaring her love for him, which eventually does happen.

I’ve read other reviews of Memoirs of a Geisha and was surprised to see that they were rather… unenthusiastic about the movie. There were various complaints ranging from the scope of the film to the fact that it didn’t follow the book closely enough. I have to be honest and say that so much time had passed since reading the book and watching the movie that I couldn’t tell you what was left out of the film!

As for the scope, I do agree with that to a certain extent. I thought the movie spent far too much time on Chiyo’s childhood and not enough on the geisha part of Sayuri’s world. Other than that, however, I thought the film was a decent length. Perhaps a bit on the long side, but certainly not of epic proportions.

I have to say that I enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha despite what the professional critics had to say about it. The acting was superb (especially Li Gong), and the cinematography was breathtaking. There have been complaints that the movie doesn’t reflect the “real Japan” of that era, but that didn’t bother me. I was too enchanted by the story and characters to be put off by inaccuracies.

Overall, I give Memoirs of a Geisha 4 stars out of 5 and recommend that you watch it despite what most of the professional critics had to say about it!