Memoirs of a Geisha 2005, Rob Marshall.

The film 'Memoirs of a Geisha' directed by Rob Marshall is a story of a young Japanese girl Chiyo Sakamoto who is sold by her parents to a geisha house. Her sister too is also sold although she is rejected by the house and sold to another. At the geisha house Chiyo meets another young girl pumpkin at her time in the Okiya (geisha house) she has numerous unpleasant run-ins with the senior geisha Hatsumomo. The story tells the journey Chiyo faces from being a slave for the Okiya house because of an incident of her trying to run away with her sister, she eventually gets noticed by mameha one of the cites most successful geishas and transforms into Sauri a true geisha. 

The film holds a lot of connotations to colour throughout. When made conscious to the use of colour after reading 'If It's purple someones going to die' by Patti Bellantoni and other background reading on the use of colour in film, i found that i was constantly making references and understood the use of the colour from scene to scene a lot more than i would have if i was watching the film otherwise. 

The use of colour symbolism within the film was very predominate there were reoccurring colour schemes that referenced to something happening within the scene. 

A predominant colour throughout the film was the deep musky yellow tones of the lights from the geisha houses, at the time this colour was ever shown on screen the rest of the composition were deep blacks and browns the yellow shade was the only lighter tone creating light and depth for the audience to see what was happening. This drew the attention mainly onto the characters and mainly onto Sauri. 

Yellow can be anxiety producing and causes us to think there is danger but can further be seen as a magical colour for life and energy. This relates to a lot of what was happening on screen. 

Sauri associated the geisha house with miss trust, aggression and unhappiness. She was always unhappy and bad things were happening when shown in this light being miss lead for example when she was forced by Hatsumono to draw on a very expensive geisha robe and deliver it to Mameha the stair case was filled with yellow tones from the light symbolising danger and the anxiety of what was to come. 

Although the yellow also symbolised the magical element of the geisha house. Her dream was to become a geisha to find the Chairman and towards the end of the film the yellow symbolised her energy with her life that was controlled by the geisha world. This colour was very trapping the colour felt like it was enclosing the screen a symbol for Sauri's world her life wasn't her own she was trapped and controlled by the owner of the geisha house and she has no were else to go this was very predominate within one of the end scenes involving Hatsumono when she sets Sauri's room on fire its exactly the same colour of the yellow throughout but within this scene it engulfs the screen the colour is so predominate that it creates tension and anger something Sauri feels strongly in this scene. 
The colour yellow has further been used in many other films for similar effects such as the 'Taxi Driver' 1976 directed by Martin Scorsese. In the first thirty second of the film a bright yellow taxi surrounded by blackness fills the screen a yellow that lives in the shadow of black are comparisons of venomous insects who attack and kill this symbol yellow combined with black signals there is poison lurking about and similarly 'Taxi driver' is about a man whom becomes obsessed with a woman and ends up killing people within the film this is much like the way Sauri becomes obsessed with the Chairman although she is not aggressive the poison could be the way of geisha life, another symbol within the use of the colour yellow. 

A further colour that was predominate through the film was the colour red, the film explored the element of sex and sexuality of the women. The idea that the geisha's life wasn't to find love but to be the definition of a geisha 'A floating piece of art'. Red is a colour symbolising danger and creates a heightened sense of tension and warning although some shades of red can symbolise love and romance this colour red was very strong, bold and definite the colour that creates a sense of danger. 

The colour was first shown the meeting of Hatsumomo and Sauri with the contrast of the colours of Sauri's robe a very pale blue symbolising innocence, sadness and known to be a passive colour compared to the bold red of Hastsumomo's robe. This Signal's to the audience using the colour red shows Hastsumomo as danger, throughout the rest of the film there is conflict between these two characters creating aggression and tension within the film using this colour initially for there meeting sets the scene of there relationship from the start. This use of red to symbolise aggression was further used through the film. Red was used in various different ways such as lighting or props to signify was was to come or happening within the present story line of the film. For example the red cloths rippling in the stream symbolised death in the war this was a very strong scene again using the contrast of the realistic grey dark rocks under the murky water against the deep bright red was a very symbolic moment. This has further been used within the film 'Schindler's list' 1993 directed by Steven Spielberg, the little girls red coat the only colour throughout the whole film within a scene shows a young girl playing, then again dead in a heap of corpses traveling to a mass grave this colour here symbolises both life and death similarly to in the scene above the red cloth in the stream symbolises the death of the many people from war but also the life of Sauri in the village in the mountains.

The bold colour red was further used to symbolise sex. The shade of the colour again was persistent throughout the film this created the same association to the colour during the scene involving sex as it did in the scene above involving conflict and danger. In the scene Sauri is about to have sex with the highest bidder to transform her into a true geisha she is wearing a red robe the strong block colour creating a huge amount of tension, red is a colour that unconsciously registers with our nervous system and emotion centres allowing it to manifests physicaly because of this it allows the audience to feel the pain and physical uncomforted for Sauri when watching this scene. 

The use of the two prodominate colours together (red and yellow) is symbolic in the way that the colours contradict each other the red says danger and a sense Sauri dose'nt was to go through with it but the yellow symbolises the trapping of the geisha world that she desires to follow to find the Chairman her one true love. This is shown within this scene and also when she is searching for a man to bid for her the use of light on either side of the path signifies this. 

A key scene within the film used colour as symbolic reference. This scene is shown twice within the film at the start and at the end this is the turning point in the film to when she prayed after meeting the Chairman that good things will start happening that she will become a geshia to meet him. Again it is featured at the end when all of the good things she wished for have become true. 

The colour orange signifies hope we often relate well to colours of the earth and although this orange is bright the colour creates a positive and welcoming atmosphere. This is one of the only scene that we see Sauri when she is young happy. 

The use of Natural colours is a reoccurring symbolic reference between her and the Chairman in each scene that they meet blossom is present this creates references to nature, life and beauty but further the colour pale pink of the blossom associates with unconditional love and nurturing. From the first time they meet him buying her an iced cone and money for food to the middle were he sends her off to be safe from the war right to the end scene of them announcing there love for one another mirrors there surroundings the natural bright earthy colours of orange, green and pinks symbolising happiness, health and a cycle of reproduction a sign of there future. 

Sauri's Makeup, Hair and styling in the film is a continual transformation it allows the audience to make a judgement of time and follows the colour symbolism used within the rest of the film. The colour robe warn by Sauri is a big clue to her personality at that time within the film. 

The beginning shows her as mentioned before in a baby blue robe symbolising innocents, a muddy brown and dull greys when she is a servant girl with minimal makeup to when she is a geisha although her geisha robes are decoratively admiring the colour pallet is always subtle and refined using pale blues, pinks, yellows and greens always very soft colours unlike for example Hatsumomo's robes who's are bold reds and blacks much more bolder colours. 

The comparison of the hair and makeup between the two creates a contrast also, Hatsumomo's hair is always long and down across her face with half gather up a little messy, her makeup too very dark long winged eye liner defining her eyes. This is the opposite to Sauri's clean up do style that always looks very perfect and in place often accessorised with flowers a symbol of life and purity along with her makeup thats subtle and pretty using shades of red and pinks for her lips and a pale pink tone for her cheeks but the rest keeping very minimal. This is a symbol of the characters personalities.

A key scene for the makeup hair and styling is the show scene Sauri performs a dance in front of the whole city, Mameha made this happen so that she was the desire for all the men so they would bid a lot of money for her. This is the only time we see Sauri like this within the film her makeup is very bold and sexualised the deep red tone of her lipstick suggests power and lust while the cold blue lighting her face is cold and sad the choice of a white robe cutting through under the sheet of blue lighting emphasise the iciness. Her hair is further very different to how we usually see it the long dark colour over the robe is sharp this loose style also signifies a sexual relaxed element contrasting the coldness of the rest of the scene. 

The coldness in this scene is mirrored later on within the film similar ice blue colours are used to portray sadness and a feeling of defeat. The styling within the scene is very simple the hair again is loose and makeup not done at all. The overall colours in the scene and costume convay a lost of her dreams and sadness. The use of this cold blue tone is used as a turning point within the film at each point blue is shown Sauri's life changes. 

The effect of the war also is very influential in the styling of Sauri later on in the film, in comparison to pumpkin who you can see has been influenced by the american style in both hair and makeup. Pumpkin has gained influence from the western war time fashion the short lighter colour fringe tucked under with the side barrel curls combined with the darker skin, fuller red lips and defined thicker eye brows and lashes. Sauri is very simple at this point in the film she is very minimal unlike previously in the film when she was a geisha this shows the effect of the war on product and on Sauri as a character her makeup is very pale soft and natural and similarly with her hair too having a more relaxed feel but continual in keeping style for Sauri. The comparison between her and pumpkin also shows the development of characters and the situation that they have been living in over the war.