Auteur Theory

The theory of filmmaking that a film reflects the directors personal vision.

Auteur theory originally arose in France in the 1940s as an outgrowth of cinematic theories or Andre Bazin and Alexandre Astruc, which was dubbed auteur theory by American film critic Andrew Sarris. Since then, it has been applied to popluar music and video game directors.
In Francois Truffaut’s 1954 essay, ‘Une certaine tendance du cinema francais’ (A certain tendency in French cinema) he coined the phrase “la politique des Auteurs”, assering that the worst of Jean Renoirs movies would always be more interesting than the best movies by Jean Delannoy. Some may see it as the policy of treting any director that uses a personal style or unique view as an Auteur. He suggested that the director should therefore be called an auteur.

‘There are no good and bad movies, only good and bad directors’ – Francois Truffaut

In the 1960’s some film critics began criticising auteur theory’s focus on the authorial role of the director, with one cause of backlash being the collaborative aspect of filmmaking, and how auteur theory privilages the director. In Kael’s ‘Rising Kane’, an essay written about Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, she points out that the film made extensive use of the talents of co writer Herman J. Mankiewicz and cinematographer Gregg Toland. Some screenwriters have hesitated at the idea that directors are more authorial than screenwriters. Film historian Aljean Marmetx, reffering to the creative input of producers and other executives in Classical Hollywood, argues that Auteur Theory “collapses against the reality of the studio system.”