10 Glaring Plot Holes You Didn't Realise The Movie Actually Solved

8. Who Heard Kane's Last Words If He Died Alone? - Citizen Kane

The Plot Hole: What is Rosebud? The entire plot of Citizen Kane is driven by the meaning behind the newspaper tycoon's final words. And, after two boobless hours, it's revealed it's his sled from when he was a boy. Aw, so the monster is just like us.

It's a great narrative technique, a curious reporter's investigation allowing for a ground-breaking non-chronological story. So it's pretty movie ruining when you realise that no one was there to hear him actually say the words - his nurse comes into the room only after he's died.

The Solution The Movie Gave Us: It's possible those final gasps somehow echoed through Xanadu, but there's a much simpler explanation that the film itself puts forward.

When the reporter interviews Kane's butler, he reveals he was in the room with him when he died - we just didn't see it in the meticulously edited opening. Although that poses another question - why did he just stand in the shadows when his master died?