Original artwork, not a still
Rosebud...Rosebud...
— Citizen Kane ‧ 1941
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Rosebud is the film's mystery and its joke at once: a dying man's last word that a whole newsreel staff cannot decode, because a sled is a childhood he lost when he was taken away from his mother. It has become the shorthand for the one small thing behind a big life, and for any film twist spoiled. Co-writer Herman Mankiewicz said the word came from his own life; Gore Vidal later claimed it was Hearst's pet name for Marion Davies.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Citizen KaneShow the scene
Citizen Kane opens in 1941 with newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane dying alone in his mansion Xanadu, whispering one word: "Rosebud". A newsreel producer sends reporter Jerry Thompson to find out what it meant. Thompson interviews Kane's banker, his friends, his second wife Susan and his butler Raymond, who tells him Kane said it again when he found a snow globe in Susan's old bedroom. Thompson never solves it; only the audience sees, in the last shot, workers burning a childhood sled whose maker's name is Rosebud.
Sources (1)
- Wikipedia: Citizen KanePlot; ProductionReference checked
Context reviewed
