Citizen Kane

Citizen Kanes reputation as one of the greatest films of all time is matched only by the accumulation of critical commentary that surrounds it. What more can there be to say about a masterpiece so universally acknowledged? Laura Mulvey, in a fresh and original reading, illuminates the richness of the film, both thematically and stylistically, relating it to Welless political background and its historical context. In a lucid and perceptive critique she also investigates the psychoanalytic structure that underlies the films presentation of Kanes biography, for once taking seriously what Orson Welles himself disparagingly referred to as dollar-book Freud.
In her foreword to this special edition, published to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the BFI Film Classics series, Laura Mulvey focuses on the films politics, highlighting the contemporary rhymes in Kanes portrayal of a scandal-prone press baron in a time of economic crisis.