From AP, via CTV:
Ziyi Zhang‘s scrappy young Chiyo — renamed Sayuri once she becomes a geisha — learns from her mentor Mameha (Michelle Yeoh) that geishas are not courtesans and not wives, but living, breathing works of art trained to elegantly entertain. And Mameha warns her that they’re certainly not allowed to fall in love — which Sayuri did long ago, with the Chairman (Ken Watanabe).
But we never truly feel Sayuri’s pain — the sense of being trapped in a life she was sold into — because she’d long dreamed of the glamorous trappings, and she thrives as a geisha. Marshall glosses over her anguish in favour of breathy voiceover and stylized aesthetics.
See also “Geisha film-makers defend casting” from the BBC.
