Citizen Kane: Breakfast Montage Scene

Noella Robb
2/26/14

One of the most interesting scenes in the Orson Welles film, Citizen Kane, is the famous breakfast montage. It is clearly used to show the development of Kane and Emily's relationship through the passage of time, but the artistic and unusual way Welles chooses to show this gives reason for the scene to be such a famous, well-known one.

The idea of showing the Kane's relationship simply through a series of moments at a breakfast table is ingenious in itself. It manages to show the ups and downs of a complex relationship and personal changes by showing how the couple simply interact with each other at the start of their day. Ranging from subtle to blatant, the differences between the sequential breakfast moments are quick. In the beginning, both characters are quite loose and happy as they partake in their breakfast (or dinner, the time is somewhat unclear), and they are seated quite close to each other. The subtleties are found in the way they are dressed, and the objects on their breakfast table. Their clothing is loose and casual, and the objects are a series of simple tea sets, representing how informal, happy, and new the relationship is. Even the music is light and cheerful in the background.

As the montage progresses, the music gets more intense. The clothing that both characters wear become more and more restrictive, until they finally dress in formal wear even at the breakfast table. The tableware becomes more and more elaborate, and bigger objects sit between them at the table. And the most obvious of differences is that at the very end, Emily is seated at the other side of the table and both cease to make conversation, blatantly representing that they are distant towards each other, and that there is now little to no love between them.

The famous breakfast montage is a memorable scene in Citizen Kane, because it's seamless transitions, subtle and overt changes of mood and props, and changes of music make for the simple telling of a story of a "marriage just like any other marriage" to be something much more interesting to watch than it sounds.