Auteur Theory
In 1954, François Truffaut wrote an essay entitled A Certain
Tendency in French Cinema. In this work he claimed that film is a
great medium for expressing the personal ideas of the director. He
suggested that this meant that the director should therefore be
regarded as an auteur. In fact, Truffaut once provocatively said
that: "There are no good and bad movies, only good and bad
directors" http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auteur_theory
The worth of this theory has been questioned by some critiques.
But, it is particularly useful as a starting point for the interpretation
of some films.
Auteur Theory suggests that a director can use the commercial
apparatus of film-making in the same way that a writer uses a pen
or a painter uses paint and a paintbrush. It is a medium for the
personal artistic expression of the director. The film theorotician,
André Bazin, explained that: auteur theory was a way of choosing
the personal factor in artistic creation as a standard of referencce,
and then assuming that it continues and even progresses from one
film to the next.
Sometimes this theory is useful when analysing the works of actors
who are working within the ‘star system’. For example, it is
possible to interpret Terminator 3 in relation to the canon of films
created with Arnie in them.
Auteur Theory suggests that the best films will bear their maker’s
‘signature’. Which may manifest itself as the stamp of his or her
individual personality or perhaps even focus on recurring themes
within the body of work. Alfred Hitchcock plays this idea up in
most of his movies where he makes sure that he appears on screen
in a brief cameo spot. This became a game that viewers would
engage in, waiting to find out when he would appear.
Alfred Hitchcock is one of the first names who comes to mind
when talking about auteur theory. His most famous films are
Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds and Rear Window. Hitchcock’s story
telling techniques were renowned for their intelligent plots, witty
dialogue, and the smattering of mystery and murder. He has been
attributed with revolutionizing the thriller genre. The reason for his
success, however, was not the genre that he was working in, but
rather the skill which he exhibited in the film-making. ie his
treatment of the subject in terms of the shots he uses and how he
combines them are more important than the genre. One of
Hitchcock’s best-known screen moments is the terrifying shower
scene in Psycho. This shot features 70 distinct shots in less than 1
minute. They are fused together in such a way that it is difficult to
distinguish between the Montage and the Mise-en-Scène.
Montage: putting together the shots of the film (also known as
cutting or editing). This term is used to suggest that the meaning of
two different shots can create a deeper meaning by the
juxtapositioning of the images. Montage is useful in conveying a
lot of information over a very short period of time.
Mise-en-Scène: the term used to describe what actually goes into a
shot and how the camera shoots it.
One of the themes that recurs quite frequently is the idea that
innocent people can get caught up in circumstances beyond their
control. Sometimes the characters are guilty of lesser crimes than
the ones they are accused of but they are innocent of the crimes
that are being attributed to them. Refer to North by Northwest
(1959). In this film Roger Thornhill (played by Cary Grant) is
mistaken by foreign agents to be a fictional character which had
been created by a US government agency (Hitchcock suggests this
is the CIA). Unwittingly he is forced to take on this character in
earnest in order to escape pursuit.
Hitchcock began his career in England, his most famous movie
being The 39 Steps (1935). He soon caught the attention of
Hollywood and he was lured there in the 1940s. Hitchcock became
a household name with his TV series called Alfred Hitchcock
Presents which ran for a decade (1955-1965). He was the host and
producer and he became a famous celebrity. His particular voice,
his body shape, and his eccentric mannerisms became instantly
recognizable
Most of his ‘thrillers’ owe a lot to the power of suspence. As a
director, he leans towards a presentation style which lets the
audience into more than he lets his characters into. This means that
part of the puzzle is to figure out what will happen when the
character learns as much as we know.
Film is a voyeuristic medium. We passively sit back and watch
what goes on on screen and constantly make value judgements
about it. Hitchcock often makes it clear that even though we are a
"respectable" audience we are also taking part in a peep show
(which is highly unrespectable). Hitchcock brings this observation
home to us in his movie Rear Window which features a character
played by Jimmie Stewart called L.B. Jeffries. He has broken his
leg and he spends much of the movie watching what happens in the
neighbouring apartment building.
The ethical dilemma presented in the film is overtly signalled when
one character says to Jimmy Stewart:
"What do you want of me?"
This may well have been said directly to the audience. In this same
scene, this character breaks the cinema convention of not
acknowledging the audience by turning directly to the camera.
When filmmakers allow this to happen, they are overtly signalling
the constructed nature of the medium and encouraging you not to
be seduced by the ‘realistic’ effect that they have created.
Hitchcock was also well-known for his choice of heroines. They
were typically beautiful blondes who appear to be respectable
characters, but they when they are in danger or trapped in some
way, they react in an animalistic way (Sometimes this manifests
itself in criminal activities). In To Catch a Thief, Grace Kelly is a
cat burglar and in Psycho, Janet Leigh's character steals $40,000
and gets murdered.
Hitchcock is also well-known for his innovative camera work. One particular effect that he perfected in Vertigo is sometimes
referred to as the H i t c h c o c k
zoom
(see
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock).
One of the remarkable things about Alfred Hitchcock is that he
worked through all of the technological changes in cinema. He
began his career in silent film, worked with sound in the British
film industry, moved to America where he worked in the
Hollywood system, firstly in black and white and later, in colour.
His contribution to each of these four areas was significant.
One of the problems with auteur theory is that it tends to diminish
the role that others play in the creation of a film. Hitchcock himself
downplayed the role that others played in his films. He was often
critical of his actors and usually did not give his screenwriters the
recognition that they deserved.
Other auteurs _You may be interested in finding out something
about some of the other famous auteurs for yourself. Jean Renoir made extraodinary advances in French cinema during
the 1930s. Some of his films include Boudu Saved from Drowning
(1932), Toni (1934), The Crime of M. Lange (1935), Grand
Illusion (1937), and The Rules of the Game (1939). His films were
socially sensitive and comic in style.
Ingmar Bergman gained world reknown with films such as
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Seventh Seal (1957), Wild
Strawberries (1958) and The Virgin Spring (1959). Like
Hitchcock, Bergman was interested with some of the anxieties that
dominated life during the 1950s and 1960s.