Day: 10 January 2022

Auteur: An auteur is a word used to describe a director that has a lot of control over the whole film, sometimes filing in other roles too such as writing, editing and even acting. The word ‘auteur’ is a French word that when translated to English means ‘author’, something fitting as the directors are the ones who bring the film together, adding their own distinct style to each film similar to how an author writes books.

In order to be an auteur, film critic Andrew Sarris believes they must fall into 3 main criteria and created a comprehensive definition:

Technical competence: Auteurs must be at the top of their craft in terms of technical filmmaking abilities. Auteurs always have a hand in multiple components of filmmaking and should be operating at a high level across the board.

Distinguishable personality: What separates auteurs from other technically gifted directors is their unmistakable personality and style. When looking at an auteur’s collected works, you can generally see shared filming techniques and consistent themes being explored. One of the primary tenets of auteur theory is that auteurs make movies that are unmistakably theirs. This is in sharp contrast with the standard studio directors of the era who were simply translating script to screen with little interrogation of the source material or editorial input.

Interior meaning: Auteurs make films that have layers of meaning and have more to say about the human condition. Films made by auteurs go beyond the pure entertainment-oriented spectacles produced by large studios, to instead reveal the filmmakers unique perspectives and ruminations on life.

Criteria source: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/film-101-what-is-an-auteur#the-3-components-of-auteur-theory