on the First Castle. Saburo finds Hidetora, who partially recovers his sanity, and reconciles with Saburo. However, Saburo is killed by one of Jiro's snipers. Hidetora dies from grief. Tsurumaru and Sue arrive at the ruins of a castle, but inadvertently leave behind the flute that Sue gave him when he was banished. She gives him a picture of Amida Buddha for protection while she attempts to retrieve the flute. However, she never returns. As the First Castle is besieged, Kurogane learns of Sue's death, and confronts Kaede. After she confesses her plot was revenge against the Ichimonji clan, she is killed by Kurogane. Jiro, Kurogane, and all Jiro's men subsequently die in battle. A funeral procession is held for Saburo and Hidetora. Meanwhile, left alone in the castle ruins, Tsurumaru trips, dropping the Amida Buddha image Sue had given to him. The film ends with a distant shot of Tsurumaru silhouetted against the castle's landscape atop the ruins. Cast Tatsuya Nakadai as , the film's equivalent to King Lear Akira Terao as , Hidetora's eldest son and heir, the film's equivalent to Goneril Jinpachi Nezu as , Hidetora's second son, the film's equivalent to Regan Daisuke Ryu as , Hidetora's youngest son, the film's equivalent to Cordelia Mieko Harada as , Taro's wife and the film's equivalent to Edmund Yoshiko Miyazaki as , Jiro's wife whose clan was destroyed by Hidetora and the rough equivalent to Albany, husband to Goneril Mansai Nomura as , Sue's brother who was blinded by Hidetora and is the film's Gloucester equivalent Hisashi Igawa as , Jiro's chief advisor and military commander Peter as , the fool Masayuki Yui as , Hidetora's main advisor, roughly analogous to Kent Kazuo Kato as , an Ichimonji clan official Jun Tazaki as , a rival daimyō Hitoshi Ueki as , another rival daimyō, based somewhat on the King of France from the play. Production Ran was Kurosawa's last epic film and by far his most expensive. At the time, its budget of $11 million made it the most expensive Japanese film in history, leading to its distribution in 1985 exceeding the budget of $7.5 million for his previous film Kagemusha. It is a Japanese-French venture produced by Herald Ace, Nippon Herald Films, and Greenwich Film Productions. Filming started in 1983. The 1,400 uniforms and suits of armor used for the extras were designed by costume designer Emi