collecting, collecting, collecting...

Rating: Null/10 (8 September 2004)

I love to watch this film over and over again and every time I see something new, challenging and interesting. A film, which can be called a touchstone of film making in Hollywood,chock full visually and contently. Nearly every detail and every word is chosen exactly and the form backs up the content accurately, that is why it is an perfect example of formalist film making. In fact a simple story, rise and fall of a man, is told but with every possibility of the medium. All that wide angles, black and white shadows, surrealist shots reminding German expressionism, lighting and beautiful deep-focus cinematography using the field depth to its limits (arranging all the visual elements in a meaningful way) serve to the content and creates meaning. There is not much to say on its brilliant form, it is really something for its time. And when we come to the plot, the story is very well structured and told in flash-backs and from different point of views.
From psychoanalitic point of view, all film is about separation of Kane from his mother in small ages and his effort to fill that "lack" through his life. He collects many things through his life in order to fulfill his life and forget the big loss of his mother. He struggles with his symbolic father ,whom separated him from his mother, all his life and he leads his life missing the feeling of the "unity" in other words "wholeness" with his mother. In fact feeling of wholeness can never be gained in adult life and that's why he collects, collects and goes on until his death but of course he never succeeds to fell that unity again. A house full of stuff from every corner of the world can't fill his lack. That feeling finds body in fantasy objects like Rosebud, his sled, which we see it in his hands in their separation scene with his mother. In other words Rosebud is his "object a" (fantasy object) that fills his loss. We may say that Rosebud is the symbol of his lack of his mother. Also through his life he never gets successful with women and dies alone and his last word is Rosebud, which is very meaningful. I highly recommend it whomever hasn't watched it yet. It is indeed a classic, watching is great pleasure and a different experience.