Japan Synopsis
“My world is as forbidden as it is fragile; without its mysteries, it cannot survive.”
A sweeping romantic epic set in Japan in the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.
Audience Engagement
2,790 audience reviews — more than 99% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 85th percentile among Japan films.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Memoirs of a Geisha. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From Columbia Pictures
Drama + Romance in Japan
270 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Drama and Romance genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Memoirs of a Geisha itself).
The 2004–2006 Japan Window
Memoirs of a Geisha holds position #60 of 347 Japan films in the 2004–2006 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 2000s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 2000s in Japan, 1020 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Memoirs of a Geisha premiered alongside 116 others.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 2h 26m runtime, production spent $582K per minute on screen and earned $1.1M per minute back.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 116 other Japan films in 2005.
The 1768th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Memoirs of a Geisha, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- loss of virginity · 4
- sumo · 3
- mentor · 2
- kimono · 2
- admiring · 2
- loving · 1
- student mentor relationship · 1
- loss of sister · 1
- loss of parents · 1
- appreciative · 1
- 1930s · 23
- geisha · 18
- 1920s · 18
- brothel · 17
- kyoto · 12
- secret love · 8
- japan · 454
- japan · 454
- world war ii · 55
- prostitute · 39
- sibling relationship · 38
- period drama · 37
- 1940s · 35
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #879 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (81st percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.8 points above the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Drama productions specifically: #365 of 1,933 (top 19%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | France, Japan, United States of America |
| Original Language | En |
| Spoken Languages | English, Japanese |
| Production Companies | Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, Amblin Entertainment, Red Wagon Entertainment |
| Runtime | 2h 26m |
| Release Date | December 6, 2005 |
| IMDb | tt0397535 |
| Official Site | www.sonypictures.com |