“Wow, That Movie!” — Jean Gabin’s Brief Take on One of the Greatest Films Ever

What did Jean Gabin think about one of the greatest films ever made? Recognized as a timeless classic in cinema history and rated 4.3 out of 5 by viewers on AlloCiné, Citizen Kane premiered in the United States in May 1941, and due to the Second World War, it only debuted in France on July 3, 1946.

Gabin encountered Citizen Kane much later, and his brief commentary is quite telling.

“Hey, that film…”

His critique, or rather his succinct opinion, can be found in the book Audiard par Audiard by René Château. Michel Audiard, a screenwriter and dialogue writer who collaborated with Gabin on 20 films, records:

“Gabin never went to the cinema or the theater. He discovered movies on TV. One day, he saw Citizen Kane and told me: ‘Hey, that film, you must have felt it when it came out…”

Although Audiard does not provide additional context, it can be inferred that Gabin was not particularly fond of Orson Welles’ feature film, despite it being considered one of the absolute masterpieces of cinema, especially in how it encapsulated all the stylistic innovations of its time.

But if Gabin was visibly bored by Citizen Kane, it might be because the film, which focuses on an ambitious businessman who becomes a domineering and megalomaniac billionaire, is the polar opposite of the roles played by the actor. Early in his career, he portrayed working-class characters, then bourgeois characters in his post-war career, but always with integrity and principles. Perhaps the character of Charles Foster Kane and his dreams of omnipotence were too far removed for Gabin.

Judging by his brief opinion of the film, it’s safe to say that Jean Gabin would not have had a successful career as a film critic!