What is an auteur filmmaker?

Quentin Tarantino’s creative control and recurring style throughout his filmography make him a modern auteur.

One thing you’ll probably hear me talk about quite often on this website is the term “auteur filmmaker.” The term has been applied to numerous directors including icons like Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick as well as modern filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson. So, to prevent confusion, here is a clear cut definition of an auteur along with concrete examples.

When it comes to the auteur theory, a solid definition can be found in the 1988 book “Hollywood Auteur: Francis Coppola” by Dr. Jeffrey Chown, a professor of film at NIU, which focuses on the films of Francis Ford Coppola from 1967’s “You’re a Big Boy Now” to 1987’s “Gardens of Stone.” Although focusing on Coppola, the first chapter of the book acts as an introduction to both Coppola and the auteur theory.

According to this first chapter, auteur analysis itself, like Sergei Eisenstein’s 1944 essay “Dickens, Griffith, and the Film Today,” has been around for many years. However, the term “auteur” and its use in film became popular through use by French film critics in the 1950s. It was originally called “les politiques des auteurs” by French film critic/director Francois Truffaut or, in English, “author’s policies.” 

Dr. Chown’s definition of an auteur is “thought of as the single dominant personality behind a work of art, a creative personality whose imprint should be discernible throughout the body of his or her films.” While, as Dr. Chown points out, a screenwriter, cinematographer or actor could be an auteur, this term is almost exclusively applied to directors with Truffaut linking this term to Alfred Hitchcock during their famous 1962 interviews outlined in the book “Hitchcock/Truffaut.” 

The idea of an auteur filmmaker, on paper, seems odd given the medium’s collaborative nature. When you go see a film, many names can be found in the credits including actors, editors, composers and many other people who helped make a particular film. Why should one person be deemed the author?

Well, the nature of a director is to control the artistic and creative direction of a film as well as guide the crew and cast through the making of a film. Of course, by that logic, all directors could be considered auteurs. So what makes a director truly earn the title of auteur because, more often than not, critics and filmgoers bestow the term.

The biggest, and most obvious, way to determine if a director is an auteur is if they exert control over most elements of filmmaking including story, production design and camera movement. This often results in a directorial style that can be easily identified with a director. 

For instance, let’s look at the directorial style of Martin Scorsese whose catalogue of films includes “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “The King of Comedy,” “Goodfellas,” “Casino,” “Gangs of New York,” “The Departed,” “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “The Irishman.” 

Martin Scorsese is often considered an auteur director due to how much control he has over his films.

While Scorsese has ventured into other types of stories, like “The Age of Innocence,” “Hugo” or Silence,” most of his films revolve around crime, mostly set in New York, with antiheroic characters and large amounts of violence and profanity. When you see films like “Taxi Driver” and “The King of Comedy,” despite being very different films, they are clearly the work of Scorsese. This is because both films are about mentally ill protagonists, both played by Robert DeNiro coincidentally, who try to strike back against systemic and societal wrongs. 

Scorsese also likes to use excess as a tool to hide the morally questionable or outright evil behaviors of the protagonists. One example is found in “Goodfellas’” depiction of the relationship between Henry Hill, played by Ray Liotta, and his wife Karen, played by Lorraine Bracco. 

When they first meet and court each other, the world they inhabit is glamorous like in the famous Copacabbana one shot. Here, the screen is dripping with luxury, class and the song “Then He Kissed Me” by The Crystals. All of this makes the relationship seem like a Hollywood fairytale. 

However, later in the film, when the relationship deteriorates and Harry’s infidelities result in Karen threatening her husband with a gun, the scenery is subdued and the volume is quiet. This perfectly puts the issues of the film's characters under a spotlight as well as removes the viewer from the friendly atmosphere of earlier scenes.

So, if you can notice a director’s particular style, they are most likely an auteur. 

Here are a few more examples of auteur filmmakers and the styles they are known for:

Stanley Kubrick: Kubrick is most well known for films about the protagonist’s inner struggles. Examples include the mental breakdown of soldiers in “Full Metal Jacket,” Jack Torrance’s developing insanity in “The Shining” or the struggle between good and evil in Alex’s mind in “A Clockwork Orange.” His films also contain long takes which buildup tension, symmetrical shots and dark humor.

Quentin Tarantino: Tarantino’s films always contain an original story written by him. Usually these stories are told out of order. This can be as miniscule as having a flashback in “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” or having the entire story scrambled like in “Pulp Fiction.” His stories also contain punchy dialogue that blends profanity and pop culture references. Tarantino’s films also have large amounts of violence that make you cringe and smile at the same time. This includes the battles in “Kill Bill,” the cinema massacre in “Inglorious Basterds” and the Candyland shootout in “Django Unchained.”

Alfred Hitchcock: Hitchcock’s films usually reside in the thriller genre, often revolving around murder, espionage or an innocent person on the run. Many of his films use point-of-view shots to put the viewer in the film and also contain influences from German Expressionism including the use of shadow to symbolize doom. Hitchcock’s films also use a MacGuffin plot device: a thing that gets the plot going and that is important to the characters but matters very little to the audience. This includes the $40,000 in “Psycho,” uranium ore in “Notorious” and the microfilm in “North by Northwest.”