Rosebud.
Tearjerking moments in Citizen Kane.
- The ending of the film. It's certainly sad because it features the death of the protagonist, but it is also strangely happy because it shows that he really wasn't the heartless monster that people spoke about for most of the film; he had a sentimental side to him, after all.
- It's even more depressing once you understand that Kane died alone and miserable. All he ever wanted in life was to be loved. That's why Rosebud was the most important thing to him; it was the last time he could remember being truly happy. And then it's callously destroyed as worthless junk after he dies.
- Worse, he did meet someone who loved him for who he is: Susan. If he had just let her do what she wanted, she'd have stayed with him forever. That globe belonged to Susan — she was probably the one person on his mind when he died.
- It's even worse when you think of it this way: going out in the snow that day was the last decision he ever truly made on his own. Being signed away by his parents, then having his fortune managed by Thatcher, all of that led to his success in life but it wasn't his own decision. That's why he wants love on "his own terms", because it was something he never got experience before he could really appreciate it. Even after Susan leaves, his temper tantrum comes off as pitiable because he feels the need to regain control over the situation, in something in which wanting control is incompatible with.
- Plus, the implication that no one will ever know the meaning of his final word and continue thinking of him as just a heartless, corrupt businessman.
- Good lord, Susan's performance in the opera. She doesn't want to do it and is forced into it by Kane, resulting in her humiliating herself on stage in front of everyone. And the sad thing is that her voice isn't bad; it's just unsuited for what she's being made to sing. She has a look on her face as the singing begins, knowing This Is Gonna Suck and there's nothing she can do about it.
- While not as spectacular as the implosion of his relationship with Susan, there is something saddening about seeing Kane's first marriage degenerate from typically loving and affectionate to coldly reading newspapers across from each other without a word.
