Citizen Kane depicts the life and ruin of a legendary man. Multimillionaire newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane dies alone in his excessive mansion, Xanadu, uttering a single word on his deathbed: "Rosebud". In an attempt to figure out the meaning of this word, a reporter tracks down the people who worked and lived with Kane, and listens to them as they tell their stories in a series of flashbacks that reveal much about Kane's life but not enough to unlock the riddle of his dying breath.
Cinematically, this film broke the traditional limits created by its precursors while creating its own that would only have to be surpassed by those films following it. The most notable innovative cinematic effect used in the film was the deep focus photography. The use of deep focusing allows all objects in a scene, despite the range of them (close, medium, long), to be viewed simultaneously, pretty much as our eyes see the world: everything in focus from front to back. It, along with other forms of focusing, is great method, to control what the viewer can see in the frame. By using this method, Welles and cinematographer Gregg Toland establish a feeling of omnipresence for the viewer watching the scene. In the scene where Kane’s wife, Susan Alexander, played by Dorothy Comingore, attempts to commit suicide by overdosing, deep focusing allows the audience to see, one by one, the elements in the frame: first the pills, then his wife in bed, and finally the door. With the notion of omnipresence and knowing about everything concerning the scene, this case of deep focusing allows the viewer to empathize with the character of Susan Alexander by undergoing the same feelings she does.
Another innovative method of filming includes his use of angles while shooting. By building complete ceilings for each scene, Welles was able to shoot the whole set entirely, so that every aspect of the scene (action and story) could be captured effortlessly. Low angles are used plentifully to give Kane the effect of seeing over, even domineering, those he talks to. For these kinds of shots, Welles ordered that holes be placed in the sets’ floors so that the camera could be placed inside of the hole and film from below the actor. The tilt, and the exaggeration of the human figure, displays this dominance. An example of this includes the scenes in which Susan and Kane have one of their final quarrels, in which Kane is filmed from below to give off the notion that Kane is the overbearing of in the feud. A third angle used by Welles in a high angled, long shot at the conclusion of the film. The panning of the camera at this elevated position captures the menagerie of items that Kane has collected through out his life. By displaying this varied collection Welles insists to the audience that Kane was truly in search of something, and in lieu of his not finding what he was looking for, amasses an assortment of expensive and unique items as compensation.
Citizen Kane remains Welles’ finest film, a treasury of cinematic metaphors and devices, and a portrait of an incredibly powerful personality. The theme of life of a grandiose figure ending in tragedy is the blueprint for nearly all of his works following this film. Despite the fluctuations of critical opinion, it will remain one of the few films of which the long-term influence on the history of the cinema was as remarkable as its initial impact.
