Citizen Kane Film analysis
The film was very unique when it first hit theaters in 1941. Citizen Kane has many mine-en-scenes. The first scene in the film is the final scene. Charlie Kane dies within the first few minutes of the film. Then when it is over we see the scene we saw in the beginning. The movie is told in flashbacks. It was filled with flashbacks and flash forwards. A lot of reverse angle scenes. In the beginning when Susan Alexander (Kane’s’ second wife) tries to commit suicide there are layers of mise en scene. The point of view is neither from the report nor audience. The flashbacks are relevant the audiences point of view shifts between characters (CinemaConfessions).
The first set of the film creates the feeling of a very wealthy man. The costumes, and the tone of voice create the feeling of a 1940’s movie. The very grad décor of the palace gives the mood of an extremely wealthy family. The on-screen space is very wide angle to show how extravagate lifestyle was including marble everywhere, a private zoo, a fire place that was the size of 200 regular fire places.
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This is symbolic because as the table gets long they start their marriage starts to fall apart. This is also called a deep focus scene. Movement in the film played a big part. When Kane was a small child his energy was a whirlwind of energy and as he gets older in the scene where Kane throws a party for his employees his energy is bouncing off the walls, like he was when he was a child. In the scene where Kane is standing in his massive mansion you feel the loneliness this was an example of compositional stress (Barsam &