MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
2005
Dir. Rob Marshall
Cast: Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh

To those who know me, it’s obvious that I’m giving thumbs up
to this film because of my love for Asian actors (despite the bad
reviews given by a lot of people. Mind you, my list
of competent Asian actors include mostly Chinese, Japanese, and Thai
(Takuya Kimura, Zhang Ziyi, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Maggie Cheung
Carina Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Ken Watanabe, Asano Todanobu,
Sinnita Boonyasak, Carina Lau, Anita Mui, Faye Wong, etc.) . I loved
Memoirs of a Geisha even though I’m not a really big fan of Hollywood
productions.

For this film, I was struck by Sayuri’s words.
“The heart dies a short death like leaves starting to fall off a tree…
There is no hope and nothing remains.
She paints her face to hide her face, her eyes….
She is deep water….
It’s not for geisha to want …to feel
Geisha is an artist of the floating world.
She dances, she sings, she entertains you…
She does whatever you want
The rest is shadows, the rest is secret.”

It is indeed a fragile world; a geisha’s realm is that of pure beauty and beauty alone.
Sayuri reminded me of Sartre’s en soi being. As an ambassador for the arts or in the broader sense, a culture, geishas embark on a role and not as individuals. The being in itself is for objects yet this was how I saw Sayuri’s condition. She was a being who
Was already complete meaning her function was already defined meaning as a geisha she doesn’t have any room for making her own destiny. She is expected only to entertain. The purpose of her existence is already made and there is no room for revisions or discoveries. And as Mameha told her “you do not become a geisha to follow your destiny.” A geisha’s purpose is already complete; all she has to do is live it. She cannot choose for herself and the idea of future is a distant thought. Sayuri said that she is an artist of the floating world, this goes on to the idea that as a geisha, she is half human and half an automaton yet moreover she is directed to be an automaton as her occupation does not allow her to pursue her individuality. To wrap it all up, she served as an example of Sartre’s being in itself.
(Somehow this echoes Wong Kar Wai’s 2046. This one in particular is about the androids in the film. I’m talking about the part wherein Takuya Kimura is traveling on board that train and each passenger is assigned an android to give them what they need. Androids do not feel like geishas…well in case you are familiar with this movie
This is the part wherein Kimura comes in contact with the Faye Wong android!)

On second thought, I was wondering…what if the producers opted for an
Asian film maker, perhaps the celebrated Wong Kar Wai, or the master Zhang Yimou?

NOTE: Movie image courtesy of Sony Pictures.