What are some differences between Memoirs of a Geisha the book and the movie?

Question

What are some differences between Memoirs of a Geisha the book and the movie? I've read the book and own the movie, but all i can remember is the fire scene in the movie is not in the book. What are some others?

Answer 1

Major Differences that I noticed...

-Hatsumomo's departure. In the book, she went nuts on a client. In the movie, she burned the okiya. I actually wish they would've stuck to the book on this, because I think that scene would've been better.

-The mizuage scene. They go into detail in the book, but I understand that it probably was not as appropriate to turn that into a movie scene.

-When Sayuri goes to the cherry blossom festival and gets the kimono from the Baron, the scene where she is talking to Mr Bekku and he had to help her redo the kimono on the train was absent from the movie.

-A lot of the history is also missing. A lot of Chiyo's childhood is missing, as is the entire part of the book where Chiyo told by Mameha that she needed to consult her horoscope (on the night she tried to escape, she had an ominous fortune about falling).

-There is a lot missing about Chiyo's actual transformation into Sayuri/a geisha. I wish they would have included that, because it really goes into how difficult it was to be a maiko.

-The entire ending is different. The Chairman does become Sayuri's danna, and she moves to NYC and opens a teahouse for businessmen because the Chairman's daughter is getting married, and she does not want to make the Chairman look bad.

Wikipedia also has an article discussing other differences between the book and the movie, which can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoirs_of_a_Geisha_%28film%29

Answer 2

Geisha The Movie

Answer 3

I read/watched it a while ago, but here's what I remember.

I'm pretty sure the fire scene is in both.
The whole beginning sequence of the book in the home town is not in the movie.
A lot of the details and history of Geishas given in the book is not included in the movie.
I don't think they gave as much detail to her going to see her sister at the whore house in the movie as they did in the book.

There are more, but I can't think of them specifically.

Hope this helps!