Taken from Arthur Golden's immensely successful novel, this is a visually ravishing adaptation of lowly young geisha girl Chiyo and her transformation into Sayuri, a legendary courtesan and the focus of desire for every man of any status. Directed by the man behind ‘Chicago', the beautifully rendered glamour is hardly surprising but it does come at the expense of the tale itself, and while much of the acting is more than worthy, the use of Chinese actors to tell a Japanese tale does seem something of an outrage. An engaging and beautiful looking film, Memoirs of a Geisha is a romantic portrait of an Asian culture in decline, but it is also very much written and directed for an American Western audience.