Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month
Citizen Kane
Given extraordinary freedom by Hollywood studio RKO for his debut film, boy wonder Orson Welles created this notoriously brilliant portrait of a media giant.
Director: Orson Welles
Overview
Renowned for his work in radio and theatre, and given unprecedented artistic license by the RKO studio, 26-year-old Orson Welles here created an epic fictionalised portrait of one of America’s most powerful men – press baron William Randolph Hearst. Welles himself played Charles Foster Kane, the young man of means who decides to start a newspaper with his inherited fortune and courst scandal.
Given extraordinary freedom by Hollywood studio RKO for his debut film, boy wonder Welles created a modernist masterpiece that is regularly voted the best film ever made. The 26-year-old Welles, already renowned for his work in radio and theatre, used the unprecedented artistic license offered to him by RKO to create a fictionalised portrait of one of America’s most powerful men – press baron William Randolph Hearst. Charting the rise of Charles Foster Kane (played by Welles himself) – who decides to start a newspaper with his inherited fortune – Welles’ film is a classic story of the corrupting effects of power. The use of deep-focus photography (keeping both foreground and background in focus) and abstracted camera angles, the non-chronological narrative structure and overlapping dialogue, were just some of the myriad formal innovations that Welles brought together for his groundbreaking debut. Such novelty and controversy proved a curse for Welles, whose career never enjoyed such indulgence again. Any film to go after the dark heart of the American dream, from The Godfather (1972) to There Will Be Blood (2007), owes Citizen Kane a debt. Ranked 3rd in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll
Contains infrequent mild violenceRelated
Power Alley Power Alley
Drama 2023 100 mins Director: Lillah Halla
Queer sisterhood and collective power lie at the heart of this arresting Brazilian debut, in which a promising volleyball player faces an unwanted pregnancy.
A Real Job A Real Job
Comedy 2023 101 mins Director: Thomas Lilti
A young, inexperienced substitute teacher is quickly confronted with the trials and tribulations of his job, in this wry tribute to the teaching profession.
All to Play For All to Play For
Drama 2023 112 mins Director: Delphine Deloget
A single mother fights to reclaim her children from foster care, in Delphine Deloget's powerful indictment of the French legal system.
The Dreamer The Dreamer
Romance 2023 95 mins Director: Anaïs Tellenne
An heiress returns to her uninhabited family manor to be confronted with the one-eyed caretaker who resides there, in the dreamlike take on La Belle et la Bête.
Through the Night Through the Night
Drama 2023 109 mins Director: Delphine Girard
Part gripping thriller, part psychological study, Delphine Girard's debut feature about consent and modern society's attitudes to sexual violence.
Making Of Making Of
Comedy 2023 114 mins Director: Cédric Kahn
Cédric Kahn (Roberto Succo, The Goldman Case) crafts this witty comedy about a troubled film shoot.
A Personal Journey… Part 3 A Personal Journey… Part 3
Documentary 1995 74 mins Director: Martin Scorsese and Michael Henry Wilson
The third part of Martin Scorsese's 'personal journey' through American Cinema
Power Alley Power Alley
Drama 2023 100 mins Director: Lillah Halla
Queer sisterhood and collective power lie at the heart of this arresting Brazilian debut, in which a promising volleyball player faces an unwanted pregnancy.
A Real Job A Real Job
Comedy 2023 101 mins Director: Thomas Lilti
A young, inexperienced substitute teacher is quickly confronted with the trials and tribulations of his job, in this wry tribute to the teaching profession.
All to Play For All to Play For
Drama 2023 112 mins Director: Delphine Deloget
A single mother fights to reclaim her children from foster care, in Delphine Deloget's powerful indictment of the French legal system.
The Apprentices The Apprentices
Comedy 1995 94 mins Director: Pierre Salvadori
Pierre Salvadori's cult 1995 comedy, starring François Cluzet and Guillaume Depardieu as two young adults searching for love and success.
The Dreamer The Dreamer
Romance 2023 95 mins Director: Anaïs Tellenne
An heiress returns to her uninhabited family manor to be confronted with the one-eyed caretaker who resides there, in the dreamlike take on La Belle et la Bête.
Through the Night Through the Night
Drama 2023 109 mins Director: Delphine Girard
Part gripping thriller, part psychological study, Delphine Girard's debut feature about consent and modern society's attitudes to sexual violence.