50 Greatest Movie Scenes Ever
9. Hall Of Mirrors - Citizen Kane
It's been regarded as one of, if not the best film of all time for so long now - it was first named as such by Sight & Sound back in 1962 - that it's easy to take it for granted, but then you go back and watch scenes like this one and remember why it got there in the first place.
Orson Welles' direction here, in his feature debut no less, is nothing short of astonishing. The scene in question takes place at the lowest ebb of Charles Foster Kane's remarkable life; aged and alone, a man on the way out. It begins with him trashing Susan's room, a sign of the resentment and anger that has grown within him, and then we have the snowglobe, the crucial detail that neither Kane nor viewers can forget about.
We see the memory of it play on his face and mind as he pockets the globe before striding out into the hall of mirrors, which reflects the versions of Kane we've seen throughout the movie. He's not a whole but instead many fractured, fragmented parts. One person cannot be defined by a single word, action, or other person. Even the camera seems uncertain as to which one the 'real' Kane is, focusing instead on a reflection, and he himself chooses not to acknowledge the multiples.
It's not only a technically astounding shot, but one that, in a moment, encapsulates the entire ethos of the movie.
[JH]