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| "Rosebud" |
SUMMARY |
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It is the author's thesis that CITIZEN KANE still exerts a strong influence on the cinema, owing to the complexity of the film and an abundance of artistic means employed in it. By comparing the film to apocrypha and making a penetrating analysis, G. Królikiewicz arrives at specific point of view about Welle's masterpiece which can be seen as mystery record of the secret of American careers and democracy, as well as a form to express agnosticism of the twentieth century.
In another chapter a portrait of Orson Welles - the artist is approached, together with the things this young erudite director of great originality equipped his central character Charles Foster Kane. The notion of "citizen" has been deciphered - in an ironic context - an egoist without the feeling for community, and unable to respond to people as other than things to be used. The plot structure of the film - its dependence on an intricate time scheme and on the conflicting memories of the Kane's associates, has been examined. Those qualities of style which integrate thus dismembered narration into an integrated whole are pointed out. The technique of narration has been studied not only as a purely narrative gimmick, but as a general principle of civilisation in which the film was made, together with the coherence of means of expression and ideas.
A key issue in the book is an analysis of Welle's parody of March of Time style in the newsreel sequence of CITIZEN KANE. The author points out the origins of the later plot structures that appear in the newsreel, and its unusual chronology. A thesis is put forward for discussion that the director intentionally obscures narration to affect the spectator's imagination. The metaphor of Plato's cave is recalled trough the archetype of cognition together with an aura of demonism typical of the unknown.
Yet another important point in the book is some research into the use of polyphony in the form of deep focus photography and the pointing out that Andre Bazin's approach to the technique is rather simplistic and unclear. It has been proved that polyphony can be realised not only in the takes that use deep focus photography. In can serve as way of revealing a model of the universe in the film. The author urges us to see dissonance in Welle's film, both in terms of the scale of objects and the plot, as well as the mechanism of cognition. Not entirely comic irony that exists in the film has been stressed. The psychology of perception and deep focus and the length of takes are the things at issue in yet another chapter. The writer points out that an "excessive" length of some takes allows the director to transmit abstract meanings.
Welle's film is auto thematic. The writer proposes to discuss this in the context of psychology of reception. Time and space are presented as subjective phenomena. The film tells its own story in almost each and every take. It is beautifully effective when Kane lost in the corridor of mirrors is forced to reflect on his life, which can be interpreted as an image of consciousness of modern Americans. The problem of narratives' method is explored - the narrator in the film being the "omniscient offer". A thesis has been put forward that the narrator can be identified as Kane's soul which continues existing after his body is dead. Thus the myth of spiritual redemption which Welles himself denied is dealt with. The secret of Kane's soul has been kept.
In the last chapter of the book a writer proposes thesis that "Citizen Kane" is, or could be to the twentieth century art what the Laocoön - the statue group, was to classicism and romanticism.
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