Citizen Kane opens with a quasi-subjective series of shots each creeping deeper within the Kane Estate until Charles Kane is seen on his deathbed holding a snowglobe.The original shot is a close-up of a “No Trespassing” sign. The camera, as well as the audience, bypasses the sign and crosses the fence, each shot inching closer to the light in the window until we see Kane dying on his bed. On the way there, we see a desolate estate (apart from the caged monkeys), enormous in space but empty. As we approach Kane’s deathbed, shots of falling snow is superimposed upon images of Kane and the snowglobe. The viewer can’t tell if the snow is the snow inside the globe, or if the snow is Kane’s last thought before he passes. This vagueness between literality
