Citizen Kane (1941)

Release date: 1941-09-05
Country: USA
Language: English|Italian
Director: Orson Welles
Production Co: RKO Radio Pictures, Mercury Productions
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Rating: 8.3/10
Length: 1h 59min

Storyline

A group of reporters are trying to decipher the last word ever spoken by Charles Foster Kane, the millionaire newspaper tycoon: "Rosebud". The film begins with a news reel detailing Kane's life for the masses, and then from there, we are shown flashbacks from Kane's life. As the reporters investigate further, the viewers see a display of a fascinating man's rise to fame, and how he eventually fell off the top of the world.

Plot Keywords

new york, journalist, marriage, new york city, adultery, suicide attempt, newspaper publisher, materialism, narcissism, attempted suicide, divorce, drunkenness, mother son relationship, stock market crash, toothache, control freak, extramarital affair, suicide, rise to power, loneliness

Short Review

The satire here is as savage as Swift's, and in its unrelenting light the victim becomes positively nauseous; yet the treatment is brilliant and continuously pleases the aesthetic sense.