Auteur theory Auteur film

Director Is the ‘author’ not the writer

Director’s style is distinctive and recognizable

Clear influence over the look, feel and language of the film

Origins in French New Wave Cinema of the 1960s e.g. Truffaut Chabrol& Godard

Auteur films tend to be more stylistically sophisticated and distinctive in terms of mise-en-scene.

In an industry which is highly collaborative, the auteur-director has almost complete control over the film-making process

Favours style over content; artistic expression over commercialism

Andrew Sarris:

The strong director imposes his own

personality on a film; the weak director

allows the personalities of others to run rampant.

Hitchcock, Kubrick, Orson Welles, Nicholas Roeg , Coen brothers are among the many who could be considered to be ‘auteur’-directors.

Arguably, every director who has made a non-mainstream film could be defined as an ‘auteur’.

A real auteur however is one who manages to combine commercial success with artistic merit

Criticisms of auteur theory

Every director has his/her own style of film-making; so every director could be considered an auteurIgnores the collaborative nature of film

In favour of auteur theory

successful auteur-directors can stand up to producers and studio executives in the face of real commercial pressures to make genre films whose formula has been tried and tested in the market-place

TaskWatch any films by Tim BurtonTo what extent can they be described as ‘auteur’ films

Look at: Distinctive style similar themes e.g. the misfit/ outsider Other recurring elements (actors, music etc) Gothic aspectsUse of animation