Further, his genius was primarily defined in terms of his use of deep focus

cinematography. So, the well may be taken as our clue to the auteurist signature.

 We need only recall the oft-cited scene from Citizen Kane where Susan Alexander

(Dorothy Comingore) attempts to commit suicide, in order to think about how the use of

depth of field exemplifies the Wellesian signature. After suffering a humiliating opera

debut, Susan tries to commit suicide, but Charles Foster Kane and another man break into

her bedroom to save her. There are several planes of depth, all in focus. In the

foreground, we see an enormous glass with a spoon in it as well as a medicine bottle,

which together occupy at least a quarter of the screen. The bed where Susan is assumed

to be lying, is located in the middle ground, but it is barely visible, overshadowed by the

objects in the foreground. However, we are made aware of this plane due to the sound of

her weak breathing. Except for all kinds of distracting objects, where the viewer's eye

may democratically wander, the large bedroom is, from the narrative point of view,

empty. As Bazin describes it, "far away in the background of this private desert is the

door, rendered even more distant by the lens' false perspective" (Orson Welles 77-78).

We hear knocking first, and then Welles bursts into the room. The entire scene takes

place in deep focus, revealing all three planes at the same time. Combined with the use of

the long take, this sequence demonstrates Welles's distinctive use of deep cinematic

space. But depth of focus here is not merely a stylistic device imposed on an otherwise

regular mise-en-scene. As Bazin has suggested, "the decoupage in depth becomes a

technique which constitutes the meaning of the story. It isn't merely a way of placing the

camera, sets and actors; it places the very nature of the story in question" (Orson Welles

81).25 Therefore, we might say that depth becomes the fundamental distinction between