A Geisha

Play trailer

A Geisha

1953

1h 25m

Drama

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

8 Reviews

94%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

Eiko seeks out Miyoharu, a geisha, and asks to be her apprentice. When she is ready to receive clients, both women want the right to refuse certain men.

Richard Brody

The New Yorker

A sardonic riff on the difference between postwar and prewar ideas is matched by an angry discussion on the gap between constitutionally guaranteed rights and brutal realities.

May 19, 2014

Full Review

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

A hymn to women's mutual supportiveness, acutely aware that selling one's body is very different from selling one's emotions, and that sometimes it's just too late to change things for oneself.

Feb 9, 2006

Full Review

Vincent Canby

New York Times

Though the landscape of the film is restricted to a small, rather exotic quarter in Kyoto, "A Geisha" is far from esoteric. The scope is narrow and the focus is deep.

May 20, 2003

Full Review

Michael E. Grost

Classic Film and Television

Masterpiece takes a feminist view of a geisha's life with extraordinary visual style.

Dec 3, 2016

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

It's one of the finest films on geishas.

Rated: A

Jul 17, 2006

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 4/5

Jul 21, 2005

Full Review

Read all reviews

william k

This elegantly photographed tragedy conveys and condemns female exploitation and suppression in Japanese society; the ensemble is excellent and the settings wonderfully detailed.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A minor Mizoguchi is still Asian cinema at it's most intimate, and plausible.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Not as engaging as Mizoguchi's masterworks and certainly a step back from the cinematic Ugetsu Monogatari but a decent social critique on changing attitudes towards women in post-war Japan nonetheless with the director on relentless, scathing form.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A mature geisha and her apprentice shockingly decide to defy traditionalism when they decide to turn down two of their clients. Perhaps one of the most universally accessible Mizoguchi films on the theme of Geishas and one which certainly has become the archetype of films that deal with such subjects. By this stage the Japanese filmmaker had become very experienced and was able to deliver a compelling feminist drama full of defiance and protest towards the stubbornness of traditionalism and the suffering and misogyny that women must sometimes endure.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Minor Mizoguchi is still pretty involving.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Always difficult to pin down a Mizoguchi film, what appears to be a study of the changing nature of the Geisha in post-war Japan becomes a wider study of Japanese society in a film featuring more stunning visuals (corridor motif) and great performances.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Kenji Mizoguchi

Director

Michiyo Kogure

Miyoharu

Ayako Wakao

Eiko

Seizaburô Kawazu

Kusuda

Saburô Date

Imanishi

Sumao Ishihara

Kokichi

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

View more photos

Synopsis

Eiko seeks out Miyoharu, a geisha, and asks to be her apprentice. When she is ready to receive clients, both women want the right to refuse certain men.

Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Producer: Hisakazu Tsuji
Screenwriter: Matsutarô Kawaguchi, Yoshikata Yoda
Production Co: Daiei Motion Picture Company
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Japanese
Runtime: 1h 25m