Auteur

An auteur (/oʊˈtɜːr/; French: [otœʁ], lit. 'author') is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded and personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film,^[1] thus manifesting the director's unique style or thematic focus.^[2] As an unnamed value, auteurism originated in French film criticism of the late 1940s,^[3] and derives from the critical approach of André Bazin and Alexandre Astruc, whereas American critic Andrew Sarris in 1962 called it auteur theory.^[4][5] Yet the concept first appeared in French in 1955 when director François Truffaut termed it policy of the authors, and interpreted the films of some directors, like Alfred Hitchcock, as a body revealing recurring themes and preoccupations.

American actor Jerry Lewis directed his own 1960 film The Bellboy via sweeping control, and was praised for "personal genius". By 1970, the New Hollywood era had emerged with studios granting directors broad leeway. Pauline Kael argued, however, that "auteurs" rely on creativity of others, like cinematographers.^[6][7] Georges Sadoul deemed a film's putative "author" could potentially even be an actor, but a film is indeed collaborative.^[8] Aljean Harmetz cited major control even by film executives.^[9] David Kipen's view of the screenwriter as indeed the main author is termed Schreiber theory. In the 1980s, large failures prompted studios to reassert control. The auteur concept has also been applied to non-film directors, such as record producers and video game designers, such as Hideo Kojima.^[10]