He's not the product of your ordinary middle-class family, as he pretends, but of a downscale farm life on an obscure rural island. Rud and Kresten have always played a game in which Toshiro Mifune as a samurai is an important figure, hence the film's title, and it becomes a touching connection point as Kresten now tries to rearrange his life. Rud cannot care for himself, and Kresten advertises for a caretaker. She is a prostitute on the run from her vicious pimp, and needs a safe place to hide. This odd menage finds its way into a fascinating life together, though we are kept aware of the constant menace of the pimp and the question of whether Kresten's wife will find out what's going on at the farm.
Nothing is leaned into, yet nothing is missed.
We are party to all of it, the people and the plot. The acting is unpretentious yet appropriate, the direction rock-solid. Yet there is drama and violence in the film, and a cathartic ending, but it all seems inevitable and appropriate.