Save the Cat rankings

Rashomon script analysis

Rashomon script - Save the Cat beat sheet analysis

At Rashomon gate during a downpour, a priest, a woodcutter, and a commoner discuss a baffling samurai murder. Through a series of court testimonies and conflicting eyewitness accounts—including the murderer, the wife, and a medium—the film explores subjective truth. A final moral dilemma emerges when the survivors argue over an abandoned infant. The story ends by returning to the gate’s harsh reality, underscoring human nature’s ambiguity.

45 Save the Cat fit score 6% analysis confidence / 11 parsed scenes

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1

Opening Image

Scene 1 / Page 1 / 1% target

5%

Introduces the rain-soaked Rashomon gate and three characters sheltering together, setting the story's moody tone.

A man has been murdered.
2

Theme Stated

Scene 1 / Page 1 / 5% target

5%

Characters express their inability to understand the murder, hinting at the film’s theme of elusive truth.

I can’t understand it. I just can’t understand it at all.
3

Set-Up

Scenes 1-2 / Pages 1-2 / 10% target

6%

We meet the priest and woodcutter and learn of the murdered samurai, then hear how the body was found in the woods.

4

Catalyst

Scene 2 / Page 2 / 12% target

5%

The woodcutter recounts discovering the samurai’s body, kicking off the investigation.

5

Debate

Scene 3 / Page 3 / 20% target

5%

Court figures clash over conflicting testimonies from the woodcutter, the bandit, and the woman about what really happened.

It was me, Tajomaru, who killed that man. Yes, I did it.
6

Break into Two

Scene 4 / Page 4 / 25% target

6%

The film shifts from frame narration to the wife’s flashback, launching into personal accounts of the crime.

7

B Story

Scenes 4-5 / Pages 4-5 / 30% target

6%

The woman’s emotional testimony about rape and her conflicted feelings introduces a more intimate relational subplot.

Don’t look at me like that. Don’t! Beat me, kill me if you must, but don’t look at...
8

Fun and Games

Scenes 5-7 / Pages 5-7 / 40% target

6%

We see competing versions: the woman’s failed suicide, the bandit’s confession, and the woodcutter’s own take, illustrating the uncertainty of memory.

9

Midpoint

Scene 7 / Page 7 / 50% target

5%

The medium channels the dead samurai, giving a supernatural testimony and raising stakes about objective reality.

I am in darkness now. I am suffering in the darkness. Cursed be those who cast me into...
10

Bad Guys Close In

Scenes 8-9 / Pages 8-9 / 65% target

6%

Back at the gate, the characters argue over the baby’s fate, externalizing moral conflicts as resources and self-interest collide.

What’s so horrible about it? Somebody else would have taken those baby clothes if I hadn’t. Why shouldn’t...
11

All Is Lost

Scene 9 / Page 9 / 75% target

5%

The woodcutter’s proposal to keep the baby feels like betrayal, marking a moral low point.

I have six children of my own. One more wouldn’t make it any more difficult.
12

Dark Night of the Soul

Scene 10 / Page 10 / 80% target

6%

Discovering the old woman looting corpses underscores human desperation and deepens despair.

Wretch! Where are you going?
13

Break into Three

Scene 11 / Page 11 / 85% target

6%

The final testimonies reconvene at the police office, suggesting a path toward resolution.

14

Finale

Scene 11 / Page 11 / 95% target

5%

Conflicting stories remain unresolved, but the characters must decide on moral action regarding the infant.

15

Final Image

Scene 11 / Page 11 / 99% target

5%

The story ends without closure on the murder but with a return to the moral quandary at Rashomon, mirroring the opening’s ambiguity.