The bandit Tajōmaru (Toshiro Mifune) sets his sights on samurai Takehiro’s wife Masako (Machiko Kyo).
THE ULTIMATE STORY of he said, she said, he said and, er, he said, Rashomon is beyond a masterpiece. It is “the classic film statement of the relativism, the unknowability of truth”, according to critic Pauline Kael. Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 feature concerns the murder of a samurai in 11th-century Japan, the rape of his wife and the contrasting viewpoints of those involved. But it was a defiant battle on the part of the legendary auteur to secure his vision, with the odds against him.