The Dream Sequence.


Could anyone tell me, in what way the dream sequence, of the boy who steals citizen kane movie posters in a theater, is relevent to this script?

Thanks,
Kishore.

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In my opinion (having only just seen this film for the first time today) one of the films themes was a genuine love of cinema and the film-making process. From my limited knowledge of Truffaut and from other people's blogs it seems that Truffaut was something of a film obssessive and with this film he is in some way paying homage to his love of films/making films. So his character of Ferrand is also obssessed by cinema and in love with films/film-making (note his other dreams are of film-making), so the dream sequence of the boy stealing the Citizen Kane posters IMO is to in some way 'explain' the character of Ferrand/Truffaut as being hooked on films from a young age and is his love and his life, and in some ways that is all he can/would want to do. It is also done in a way that references Citizen Kane in itself in that Citizen Kane is looking for what is the essence of Kane the man and it builds to the denouement of the sledge (rosebud) as an explanatory factor of who Charles Foster Kane was. Similarly, the dream sequence builds to reveal Ferrand/Truffaut as a film fan, first and foremost. It also allows Truffaut to reference Citizen Kane as a great film.

Are you really a Kishor Kumar fan by the way? Ami Chini Go Chini...

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I saw it as something that actually happened to Truffaut when he was a kid. The child in the film looked not older than 10, and since CK probably came out in France in 1942, Truffaut was that exact age. I could see him doing something like that as a kid.

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There is a similar scene in "The 400 Blows", Truffaut's first feature, which is also highly autobiographical. Antoine, the twelve-year-old protagonist (played by Jean-Pierre Léaud) and his friend steal photographs of an Ingmar Bergman film ("Sommaren med Monika" it was, I think).
So I think it's safe to say that it's based on Truffaut's own experience.

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For many people Citizen Kane is one of the best films ever made, if not the best. So, I think Ferrand's dream stands for the desire every director has of one day being able to achieve such a masterpiece.

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"When I first saw Citizen Kane, I was certain that never in my life had I loved a person the way I loved that film." -Francois Truffaut

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I think it's interesting and perhaps relevant as the first image we see each time after the three dream sequences conclude is a brief shot of closing studio gates. Why are the gates closing, not opening?

Truffaut isn't just acknowledging a debt to Orson Welles; he's perhaps saying that Welles' advances are of a kind the director can't surpass but only steal from, which is what lends them a somewhat nightmarish quality. The director in the movie is obsessive but feels impotent.

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I had the same reaction.

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Oh, and the kid in the dream is carrying a kane!

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From a Truffaut essay by Juan Carlos González A. on Senses of Cinema

Upon abandoning his studies, Truffaut had to pay his way by selling billboard 'catalogues' of films being exhibited in the city, as well as promotional stills from cinemas that he stole at night

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The dream sequences took place when the director (Truffaut) was stressed about a particular aspect of his film. The flashing cinema neon lights probably meant that he was worried about finishing on time for release. Opposing this was Citizen Kane as his beacon for pursuing cinema. Circumstances meant he couldn't reach the same standard as that film, but this was always going to be the case; his love of the medium, its individual moments symbolised by repeated shots of reels and the pictures of Kane that he stole, were where his passion lay.

"You get me the real money, and i'll bring you the real diamonds."

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Circumstances meant he couldn't reach the same standard as that film, but this was always going to be the case; his love of the medium, its individual moments symbolised by repeated shots of reels and the pictures of Kane that he stole, were where his passion lay.
Rupert
Truffaut isn't just acknowledging a debt to Orson Welles; he's perhaps saying that Welles' advances are of a kind the director can't surpass but only steal from, which is what lends them a somewhat nightmarish quality. The director in the movie is obsessive but feels impotent.
slokes

And I completely agree with the above. The "dream sequence" was actually the director's nightmare symbolizing his fear of failure, of always coming up short and therefore, having to resort to petty "stealing" from the masters. One of the film's highlights, for sure.

Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

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