The Geisha House

Set in the late 1950s, when geisha culture was threatened by moral crusades, it tells the story of Omocha (Miyamoto Maki), a young girl who sees the geisha life as a way to lift her poverty-stricken family from their hand-to-mouth existence. Through her eyes, we see the protocols and complex financial relationships which dictate the running of the geisha house. Fukasaku's film is a work of great delicacy with moments of hypnotic beauty, and his tender direction, often touched with a sense of wonder, fills the screen with lovingly constructed scenes. At its heart is the poignant situation of the women who must sacrifice their normal relationships to live an ambiguous life in which they are a key part of society while being kept, for the most part, on its periphery, like perpetual mistresses.

Top Cast

Maki Miyamoto

Tokiko aka Omocha

Sumiko Fuji

Satoe

Mai Kitajima

Somemaru

Masahiko Tsugawa

Yoshikawa

Kaho Minami

Terucho

Yumiko Nogawa

Michiko

Mariko Okada

Hanaman's owner

Takeshi Katō

Kitayama

Noboru Mitani

Mikami

Naomasa Musaka

Kayama

Takashi Sasano

Kosaka

Seizō Fukumoto

Police detective

Ryoko Gi

N/A

Chinatsu Izumi

N/A

Yasuyo Matsumura

Tokiko's mother