A Brief Introduction to Auteur Theory

Film 101: What Is an Auteur? Learn About Auteur Theory  Last updated: Oct 2, 2020

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What Is an Auteur?

The concept of the auteur—of the filmmaker as artist and author of his or her works—began in Paris, where filmmakers and critics reacted to the industrialization of filmmaking in the United States and Europe.The French word auteur literally translates to the English, “author.” Within the context of cinema, the word auteur is used to describe a director who exerts a high level of control across all aspects of a film. Auteur directors generally have a distinctive style from film-to-film and often fill other roles besides directing including: writing, editing, and sometimes acting in their own films.

What Is Auteur Theory?

Director François Truffaut, writing as a critic in the influential French journal Cahiers du Cinéma (Cinema Notebook), developed the concept of the auteur in his 1954 essay “Une certaine tendance du cinéma français” (“A certain trend in French cinema”).

Truffaut wrote about the films of several new French filmmakers who he termed auteurs. He drew contrasts between auteurs and directors of mainstream studio movies—who he dismissed as merely metteur en scene, or “stagers” of a script written by another artist. Truffaut argued that the filmmakers who made the best films were those who wrote and directed their own films and who had a unique, personal vision. Truffaut called that approach La politique des auteurs (“The policy of the authors”). Truffaut’s ideas on film were embraced by an era of French filmmakers who were part of what he called La Nouvelle Vague (what English speakers call the French New Wave).

What Is the Difference Between Auteur Directors and Other Film Directors?

Auteurs wrote and directed films that went beyond surface level stories to ask bigger questions about human existence and explore deeper themes in a nuanced and skillful way. Whereas most directors translated scripts written by others to the screen, auteurs usually write their own screenplays or at the very least have a heavy editorial hand in the writing process.

The 3 Components of Auteur Theory

Andrew Sarris, film critic for The New York Times, expanded on Truffaut’s writing and set out a more comprehensive definition for auteurs according to three main criteria: technical competence, distinguishable personality, and interior meaning.

1.            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.

2.            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.

3.            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.