A Look at the History of the Auteur Theory, Which Celebrates the Director as the Author of a Film’s Vision

In the latest episode of Filmmaker IQ (previously), host John P. Hess traces the history of the auteur theory, a concept in film criticism that celebrates the director as the primary auteur (from the French word for “author”) of a film’s creative vision.

Simply put, the Auteur Theory holds that a film is a reflection of the personal creativity of the director. That he or she is the author of the film, like a writer is the author of a novel. The natural line of thinking from this in film criticism is that a film’s quality is tightly intertwined with the film’s director.