Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.
Direction
Kurosawa's camera becomes a character—dizzying, accusatory, alive.
Cinematography
Light through leaves became the most copied shot in history.
Acting
Mifune's bandit: feral, pathetic, hilarious, terrifying—often simultaneously.
Director
Akira Kurosawa
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'Rashomon effect' entered Western legal and psychological vocabulary after this film—Kurosawa essentially named a cognitive bias.
Kurosawa built the massive Rashomon gate from scratch, then had it struck by real lightning for authenticity—only to have a typhoon destroy it mid-shoot.
JP
