You’ve probably heard about an important movie with spiritual implications that’s based on a best-selling novel and made an impressive opening this past weekend. Only this one didn’t have anything to do with lions or witches, though wardrobe was front-and-center.

“Memoirs of a Geisha” features a Chinese actress playing a Japanese character in an American author’s fable from the fascinating and exotic geisha world of pre-World War II Japan. The tale is Cinderella-esque but with a more poignant dénouement. The book managed to stay on The New York Times bestseller list for two years. The lavish movie opened this past weekend to the third highest per-screen audience take of all time among non-animated movies, averaging $84,184 per screen in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto. It opens in wider release this weekend.

“Geisha” is the story of a poor girl who’s taken from her family to be a servant in a geisha house where she encounters perfidious rivalries that nearly break her spirit. As an adult she achieves the status of a gorgeous and powerful geisha, but the prestige of having the attention of society’s most powerful men can’t erase her desire for the man she truly loves.

She’s left with the dynamic questions that move from the reflective to the downright perplexing (especially if we’re bold enough to ask them to ourselves):

“What is my highest and best purpose in life?”
“What is most fulfilling to me?”
“What if what I really want is something different?”
“What if what I thought I’ve wanted all this time isn’t enough?”

For those willing to be engaged, “Geisha” poses the compelling questions of destiny vs. desire, achievement vs. attraction, and commitment vs. discovery–questions, in other words, that should weigh deeply on the hearts and minds of the authentic spiritual seeker.