Plot Summary
“Citizen Kane,” hailed by critics as the greatest film of all time, was directed by Orson Welles and released in 1941. Welles was only 25 years old when he directed, produced and starred in the film, which was loosely based on the life of the news tycoon, William Randolph Hearst.
“Citizen Kane” opens with the death of Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper magnate. The scene finds him in his last moments in his house, Xanadu, where he holds a snowglobe and he utters his last word, "Rosebud." The next sequence takes us inside a room where a newsreel tribute to Kane is being screened. The news producer is dissatisfied with the end result. He believes there was more to Charles Kane than what the reel covered. The producer tasks a young reporter named Jerry Thompson to uncover the meaning of Kane’s last word. The film truly begins when Jerry embarks on a journey through the fragmented memories of those who knew Kane.
Kane's story begins in Colorado, where his mother, Mary Kane, runs a boarding house. One day, a lodger decides to pay her in mine deeds, which later turn out to be profitable. Finding herself rich, she sets up a trust fund for Charles and asks her banker, Mr. Thatcher to raise him and oversee his education. The day that Mr. Thatcher comes to take him away, young Charles is happily sledding. The news of his parents’ abrupt and harsh decision upsets him and he hits Mr. Thatcher with his sled. This separation from his mother deeply affects Kane, and his relationship with his adoptive father is peppered with resentment and rebellion.
Years later, Kane inherits a vast fortune (thanks to his adoptive father’s judicious handling of his money) and takes over the struggling New York Inquirer newspaper. The reporter, Thompson, interviews Kane’s business manager, Mr. Bernstein, and discovers how Kane employed sensationalist tactics and biased reporting, most notably fabricating coverage of the Spanish-American War, to gain influence and control the narrative.
Thompson then interviews Kane’s erstwhile best friend, Jedediah Leland, and learns that to further his ambitions, Kane married Emily Norton, the niece of the President of the United States. This marriage proves to be loveless and a strategic move by Kane to further his political career. As his relationship with Emily deteriorates, Kane pursues his political aspirations through a gubernatorial campaign. However, an affair with Susan Alexander, a young singer leads to a public scandal, which tarnishes his reputation and ends both his political career and his marriage.
Kane decides to marry Susan, and expends his energies into launching an operatic career for her. Despite Susan’s lack of talent or ambition, he manipulates her into it by building an opera house. Her first performance is disastrous and is slammed by the critics, Jedediah Leland writes a scathing review for Kane’s newspaper, following which Kane severs ties with him. Being a journalist before he is anything else, Kane decides to publish Leland’s bad review.
Thompson now goes to interview Susan Kane, who finally consents to an interview and tells him that her failed operatic career led her to attempt suicide. Kane finally relented and let her retire from the stage. After staying with him for a few years and becoming a victim of domestic abuse, Susan leaves him. Kane’s butler, Raymond, tells Thompson that after Susan left, Kane destroyed her bedroom in a rage and only stopped when he noticed a snowglobe and whispered, “Rosebud”.
Thompson, exhausted and empty-handed, abandons his quest. As he leaves Xanadu, a worker unknowingly reveals the key: a young boy's sled inscribed with the name "Rosebud" is tossed onto a burning pile of Kane's possessions. This seemingly insignificant object becomes the final piece of the puzzle, left unexplained for the audience to ponder.
