‘A labyrinth with no center’, this was the phrase Jorge Luis
Borges, a film critic, used to describe ‘Citizen Kane’. ‘Kane’ is a maze, a
puzzle that the viewers can lose their ways so easily thanks to its complexity.
Indeed, this is the reason why I am impressed by this film. This is a film that
everyone can generate their interpretations endlessly, upon repeated viewing
and philosophizing. After all, film criticism, or any art criticism, should be
seen as an organic unity. The ideas are built up and challenged repeatedly, yet
it always remains intimate in our minds.
Style, and mise-en-scene, are the attributes what makes
‘Citizen Kane’ stand out from its peers. ‘Kane’ is a film that has achieved an
eternal coolness, no matter what era you look at this film, you will still be
easily captivated by its stunning visual style. Certainly, it was one of the
key films that provide foundations for the genre known as ‘Film Noir’, which
was one of the most significant genres during the period 1940s-1950s. Heavily
inspired by German Expressionism, ‘Citizen Kane’ used extensively an
expressionistic lighting style, coupled with low-key / high contrast lighting
scheme, to reflect the disorienting minds experienced by Kane and the other
characters. After all, human character is not a ‘black-or-white’ issue, and
this particular style can enrich the
perspectivism shared by many of the characters in the film.
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| Expressionistic and high contrast lighting, deep focus and also the 'triangle rule' are all employed in this scene. The aesthetic is reminiscent of many 'Film Noirs' that come after. |
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| A high contrast style can be seen in this scene. Half of the scenes is relatively brightly lit, while the other is relatively under-lit. That achieves a visual tension for the scene. |
Yet if there is an idea that can easily associate with
Citizen Kane, that is ‘deep focus’. This is the film that becomes almost
synonymous to this photographic style, and Welles’ extensive use of this
technique indeed contributes so much to the theme of the story. In my article
on Renoir’s ‘The Rules of The Game’, I have outlined 3 reasons how a deep focus
style can contribute to the narrative- holism, dialectic, and alienation. ‘Dialectic’
and ‘Alienation’ are far more relevant to the plot in ‘Citizen Kane’, and
henceforth will be described here.
When 2 objects are separated by a rather long distance, a
deep focus can provide a visual tension between the 2 objects, as if there is a
‘tug-of-war’ between the 2 parties. Take the scene when Kane and Bernstein were
celebrating with the other officials at the party, and both Kane and Bernstein
were situated on one side of a long table respectively. Of course, this deep
focus shot made the whole event look grand, yet at the same time it also
illustrated a possible power struggle between the 2 big brasses. Welles seem to
be reminding us not to place sole focus on Kane, do not forget Bernstein is
also there. The fact that Bernstein is not shown out of focus presents an
intense visual tension in this scene.
An even more significant use, however, is to present
alienation, which is abounding in ‘Citizen Kane’. Interestingly, in many cases,
Welles also achieved a compositional tension in many of these scenes, which I
would coin the term ‘triangle rule’. In many of these scenes, the composition
of the frame usually involved 3 characters, when 2 were closer to the viewers
and a third one was situated rather far away. Since all 3 characters are
photographed in sharp focus, it was very hard for the viewers to ‘abstract’
away the character standing at a distance, and they would easily arrive at the
conclusion that the character was an outlier, one that could not be grouped to
the other 2 members due to the distance. In many cases, this symbolized a sense
of alienation, because the distant character could no way participate in the
actions of the other members, and hence
the actions were beyond his control. The most famous example was of course the
scene when Kane’s parents were making arrangements to send the young Kane away
from home. When the parents were signing papers inside the room, outside the
window, we could see the distant Kane playing with the snow. With the deep
focus shot, we were totally aware of his presence and therefore could easily
lament his plight that he could not control his destiny. In another one, the
presence of a third standing character implied a diffusion of power. Since the
characters in many of these scenes were arranged in a triangular manner, it
generated a compositional tension, as if the conflicting interests regarding
the characters would pull things apart. Indeed, this formalism has become
commonplace therefore, with examples as diverse as Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Rahsomon’,
Charles Laughton’s ‘The Night of the Hunter’, Nicholas Ray’s ‘Bigger Than
Life’, and of course Sergio Leone’s ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’. Thus, ‘Citizen Kane’ really serves as an
aesthetic model for many.
From Rosebud to Rose
The attempt to fully understand a human character is often
futile, and in many case like solving a puzzle, because what makes us human is
the entanglements of goods and bads. Citizen Kane serves as the prime example
to illustrate this notion.
A Wellesian character is a particular brand of personality,
who is always present in a Welles picture (often portrayed by Welles
himself). A Wellesian is smart, talented, and capable. But the big problem is,
he often has serious character flaws, and makes false judgments such as a moral
judgment, and they are destroyed by their bad deeds. Therefore, a Wellesian
character is sort of a tragic hero, very much originated from Greek tragedy and
Shakespearean plays. Kane is the quintessential Wellesian, and this influence
can be easily felt in many later film characters, such as Lawrence of Arabia and even Darth
Vader in Star Wars.
Kane started from a humble beginning, but he was motivated and was
confident enough to realize his potential. He had a strong sense of duty at the
start of his career, as he wanted his newspaper to act as the voice for the
common people. He might have a good heart, yet that was his character flaws
that bent the trajectory the other way round. He was always egotistical, and he
believed he ruled above the law. When he started smelling success in his media
empire, he was power hungry enough to exert all power and control towards
himself, and by committing to all these deeds, it corrupted his precious soul.
He started to manipulate public opinions through sensationalism, yellow
journalist tactics, even black mail, to pay back on his rivals and opponents,
both private and public. Indeed, Kane’s antic was pretty ‘modern’, and
foreshadowed the attitudes of journalism nowadays.
To have all the power also
means to control everything around him, including his environment and
associates. With his wealth, Kane acquired numerous possessions and built his
‘dream house’ – Xanadu. Yet, at the same time, he was disillusioned by the
endless wealth and power he has been able to achieve, and was dehumanized at
the same time. He could not feel, or respect, those he was intimate with, and
that led to their estrangements from him.
His two loves were the true victim of his wildest dream, and
two scenes were particularly illustrative. The first one was a montage
sequence, about how Kane and his first wife’s relationship turned sour. I was
impressed by the fact, while the sequence lasted no more than a mere two
minutes, the five key scenes in the sequence showed how their relationships
gradually changed from passionate to that of cold and indifferent, all
happening on both ends of a long dinner table.
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| Actively 'engineering' Susan's opera career. |
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| Susan Kane, just one of the 'possessions' in Xanadu. |
Kane did not know how to respect women, yet it was his
second wife, Susan Alexander Kane, who really took all the heaviest blows. At
that point, Kane’s ego has reached such a horrendous height that he actually
wanted to ‘engineer’ success in Susan’s life. He wanted to make Susan a
successful Opera singer, but that was something that Susan had no talents or motivations
in. He could not appreciate Susan’s free will, and that tormented her to the
point of an attempted suicide. In one of the film’s most memorable scene, Susan
was seen playing a jigsaw puzzle. What a first rate mise-en-scene. The
composition was unbalanced, while half of the screen was occupied by Susan and
her game, the other half was very empty. This illustrated a loneliness and
alienation experienced by Susan, as she knew that Kane was disappointed by her
failure to go further in her opera career. Susan was working hard in solving
the pieces of the jigsaw. Yet what was she trying to piece together? Was she
trying to piece together Kane’s true self, to find out what Kane really was? Well,
if that’s the case, she was doomed to failure. Because Kane was blinded by
power, and a strong sense of fetishism. Kane treated woman as if they were
possessions , like all the dolls that accompanied him to his death. Susan was
merely one of the packs, albeit a really vulnerable and unhappy one. When she
knew she has had enough, she abandoned Kane and left. The hollowness of wealth
and power was reflected by Kane’s emptiness of existence.
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| The young Kane not too happy about the patriarchal arrangements. |
Kane did know when to stop. After Susan has left him, in a
furious fit he demolished almost everything in Susan’s room. He left one thing
alone – the snow globe, and uttered ‘Rosebud’. The snow globe was the distilled
essence of Kane’s regrets and frustrations. ‘Rosebud’ was the name of the
sledge Kane played merrily with when he was a kid. It was the stage before the
bud blossomed into a rose, and that was the age when Kane was innocent and free
of any corruption. He could not control his destiny, because his parents have
made arrangements for him, certainly against his will. From a psychoanalytical
perspective, we could certainly say that the monster Kane has eventually become
could be predicated from the damages he has received from the adults when he
was young, and it was a reaction against the Fatherly figures – Thatcher and
Kane’s incapable father. When Kane was finally alone, the lost memories from
the snow globe enhanced his disappointments of loss –the loss of innocence, and
the loss of compassion. At the final moments of his life, he lost the grip of
his snow globe, and it shattered to pieces on the floor. It could be the only
thing he could still find solace with. It was a very moving scene for me – no
matter how nasty Kane has become, he just wanted to keep his personal memories,
the good old times when he was really happy and did things according to his own
will. His last words neatly confirmed this sentiment...
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| Rosebud - the childhood sledge. |
Final Words
Citizen Kane sounds like a big name, it is his flaws that
make him really small. Given the tremendous amounts of insights about human
nature one can gain from this film, ‘Citizen Kane’ will stand at the top of the
list!
-END-
(2/2)
by Ed Law
21/6/2015
Film Analysis - 47
