This weekend, I rewatched Citizen Kane, and I made a connection about the cinematography that I failed to fully realize on my first viewing.

For a film about the life and death of Charles Foster Kane, we see very few moments of his actual life in the present. While in the past, Grand displays such as the famous presidential rally scene display Kane’s grandiose and formidable prescience, the film’s framing and lighting helps to maintain his imposing figure in the present, even beyond the grave. 

One of the earliest moments Kane’s looming presence is personified is when Thompson first enters Xanadu. The once lively mansion is now left hollow and dark; however, through all this darkness, light from the window cuts through to strike through the darkness of the frame. 

One of the earliest moments Kane’s looming presence is personified is when Thompson first enters Xanadu. The once lively mansion is now left hollow and dark; however, through all this darkness, light from the window cuts through to strike through the darkness of the frame. 

The combination of the low-key scenes with the singular white beam cutting through the darkness creates the aura of an imposing outer figure looming over the scene and defining the moment. Just as the focus of the conversation is Kane and his life, the beam and what it illuminates become the focus of the scene. Kane was such an important figure in his life that in his death, he still had prominent prescience, both literally and metaphorically. One important detail about the lighting in this scene is that the beam is more muted and not a pure bright streak. Even though Kane is defining this scene, his performance isn’t very strong. The beam is broken by black lines. Kane was not very well understood, and this is actually the crux of Thompson’s journey. His many interviews are just an attempt to understand his kanes dying words by gaining context to his whole life.   

While Kane’s presence is felt through stark pillars of light cutting through the empty darkness of Xanadu, his presence is personified at the end of the film through enrapturing darkness.

When Thompson returns to Xanadu at the end of the film, the idea of Kane has fundamentally changed. Instead of Kane being a jolt of inspiring mystery that would guide Thompson’s work, he becomes an overbearing force imposing incomprehension. Even after hearing the different accounts of Kane’s life, Thompson is left utterly lost as to what Rosebud means, as he has not been able to fully piece together the meaning of Kane’s existence. This is reflected in the lighting. Now, due to the use of backlighting, darkness shrouds  Thompson and Raymond, and they become silhouetted. We can’t see the emotions on their face and can barely see their movements. Those have been clouded by the looming presence of Kane, but instead of his presence being emotionally resonant or striking, he os mows a consuming void of mystery. The light in the scene is elsewhere, with it becoming progressively brighter and further the distance from our characters, showing how there is a better and easier path behind the pair, but they are covered and roped into the darkness stemming from the mystery of Kane.