An auteur ( / oʊ ˈ t ɜːr / ; 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, thus manifesting the director's unique style or thematic focus. As an unnamed value, auteurism originated in French film criticism of the late 1940s, and derives from the critical approach of André Bazin and Alexandre Astruc , whereas American critic Andrew Sarris in 1962 called it auteur theory . 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.
30-487: Catherine Breillat ( French: [bʁɛja] ; born 13 July 1948) is a French filmmaker, novelist and professor of auteur cinema at the European Graduate School . In the film business for over 40 years, Breillat chooses to normalize previously taboo subjects in cinema. Taking advantage of the medium of cinema, Breillat juxtaposes different perspectives to highlight irony found in society. Breillat
60-401: A "traitor" for accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault. Through film, Breillat attempts to redefine the female narrative in cinema by showing female characters who undergo similar experiences as their male counterparts. Many of Breillat's films explore the transition between girlhood and adulthood. The females of her films attempt to escape their adolescence by seeking individuality. There
90-442: A 1954 essay, François Truffaut criticized the prevailing "Cinema of Quality" whereby directors, faithful to the script, merely adapt a literary novel. Truffaut described such a director as a metteur en scene , a mere "stager" who adds the performers and pictures. To represent the view that directors who express their personality in their work make better films, Truffaut coined the phrase "la politique des auteurs", or "the policy of
120-581: A dressmaker, alongside her sister Marie-Hélène Breillat. In 2004, Breillat suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, causing a stroke that paralyzed her left side. After five months of hospitalization and a slow rehabilitation, she gradually returned to work, producing Une vieille maîtresse ( The Last Mistress ) in 2007. This film was one of three French films officially selected for the Cannes Film Festival of that year. In 2007, Breillat met notorious con man Christophe Rocancourt , and offered him
150-682: A film adaptation of her book Abus de faiblesse , directed by Breillat and starring Isabelle Huppert , began production in 2012, and was screened at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival . It has been noted that "Breillat remains committed to the long take, particularly during scenes of sexual negotiation, a technique that showcases her performers' virtuosity as well as emphasizes the political and philosophical elements of sex. In both Fat Girl and Romance , for example, key sex scenes possess shots lasting over seven minutes." In 2018, Breillat made controversial remarks on Asia Argento , who starred in 2007's The Last Mistress , calling Argento
180-465: A film as a collaboration, her 1971 essay " Raising Kane ", examining Orson Welles 's 1941 film Citizen Kane , finds extensive reliance on co-writer Herman J. Mankiewicz and on cinematographer Gregg Toland . Richard Corliss and David Kipen argued that a film's success relies more on screenwriting. In 2006, to depict the screenwriter as the film's principal author, Kipen coined the term Schreiber theory . To film historian Georges Sadoul ,
210-402: A film's main "author" can also be an actor, screenwriter, producer, or novel's author, although a film is a collective's work. Film historian Aljean Harmetz , citing classical Hollywood's input by producers and executives, held that auteur theory "collapses against the reality of the studio system ". In 2013, Maria Giese critiqued the lack of American women who are considered to be within
240-501: A film's putative "author" could potentially even be an actor, but a film is indeed collaborative. Aljean Harmetz cited major control even by film executives. 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 . Even before auteur theory,
270-509: A leading role in a movie that she was planning to make, based on her own novel Bad Love , and starring Naomi Campbell . Soon after, she gave him € 25,000 to write a screenplay titled La vie amoureuse de Christophe Rocancourt ( The Love Life of Christophe Rocancourt ), and over the next year and a half, gave him loans totalling an additional €678,000. In 2009, a book written by Breillat was published, in which she alleged that Rocancourt had taken advantage of her diminished mental capacity, as she
300-523: Is an unsaid silence in society for girls to hide their sexuality and desires unless directly confronted about them. Breillat offers a platform to discuss female pleasure and sexual responsibility by exposing social and sexual conflicts in her films' themes. In August 2024 the actress Caroline Ducey , in an interview with the Nouvel Obs newsmagazine, accused Breillat of directing male actors to perform unsimulated sex acts upon her against her will during
330-403: Is known for films focusing on sexuality, intimacy, gender conflict, and sibling rivalry . Breillat has been the subject of controversy for her explicit depictions of sexuality and violence. She cast the porn actor Rocco Siffredi in her films Romance ( Romance X , 1999) and Anatomie de l'enfer ( Anatomy of Hell , 2004). Her novels have been best-sellers. Her work has been associated with
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#1732790622176360-403: Is treated as artwork while the auteur, as its creator, is the original copyright holder. Under European Union law , largely by influence of auteur theory, a film director is considered the film's author or one of its authors. The references of auteur theory are occasionally applied to musicians, musical performers, and music producers. From the 1960s, record producer Phil Spector is considered
390-524: The cinéma du corps/cinema of the body genre. In an interview with Senses of Cinema , she described David Cronenberg as another filmmaker she considers to have a similar approach to sexuality in film. Though Breillat spends most of her time behind the camera, she has acted in a handful of movies. She made her film debut in Bernardo Bertolucci 's Last Tango in Paris (1972) as Mouchette,
420-528: The French film critics André Bazin and Roger Leenhardt described that directors, vitalizing films, depict the directors' own worldviews and impressions of the subject matter, as by varying lighting, camerawork, staging, editing, and so on. As the French New Wave in cinema began, French magazine Cahiers du cinéma , founded in 1951, became a hub of discourse about directors' roles in cinema. In
450-583: The United States. Giese argues women in the US are rarely allowed to direct unless they are already celebrities, and that they are rarely afforded proper budgets. She cites women as making up less than 5% of American feature film directors , while the Hollywood Reporter stated that only about 7% of directors were women among the 250 highest-grossing films in 2016. In some law references, a film
480-453: The age of 17, she had her novel published, l'Homme facile ( A Man for the Asking ). The French government banned it for readers under 18 years old. A film based on the novel was made shortly after the publication of the book, but the producer went bankrupt and the distributor Artedis blocked any commercial release of the film for twenty years although it had been given an R rating. Breillat
510-761: The authors". He named eight writer-directors, Jean Renoir , Robert Bresson , Jean Cocteau , Jacques Becker , Abel Gance , Max Ophüls , Jacques Tati , and Roger Leenhardt , as examples of these "authors". Jerry Lewis , an actor from the Hollywood studio system, directed his own 1960 film The Bellboy . Lewis's influence on it spanned business and creative roles, including writing, directing, lighting, editing, and art direction. French film critics, publishing in Cahiers du Cinéma and in Positif , praised Lewis's results. For his mise-en-scene and camerawork, Lewis
540-649: The director "not to force me to do things I didn't want to." Breillat denied the allegations, accusing Ducey of being "delusional" and announcing her intention to file suit against the actress for defamation. Auteur cinema 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. Georges Sadoul deemed
570-490: The director was considered the most important influence on a film. In Germany, an early film theorist, Walter Julius Bloem , explained that since filmmaking is an art geared toward popular culture, a film's immediate influence, the director, is viewed as the artist, whereas an earlier contributor, like the screenwriter, is viewed as an apprentice. James Agee , a leading film critic of the 1940s, said that "the best films are personal ones, made by forceful directors". Meanwhile,
600-547: The filming of Romance . The allegations were described in more detail in Ducey's memoir, La Prédation (nom féminin). According to Ducey, Breillat demanded that her coactor, François Berléand , digitally penetrate her on camera; Ducey and Berléand worked together successfully to simulate the scene without Breillat's knowledge. Ducey stated that actors Rocco Siffredi and Reza Habouhossein later engaged in on-camera penetrative acts with her at Breillat's insistence, despite her plea to
630-437: The first auteur among producers of popular music. Author Matthew Bannister named him the first "star" producer. Journalist Richard Williams wrote: Spector created a new concept: the producer as overall director of the creative process, from beginning to end. He took control of everything, he picked the artists, wrote or chose the material, supervised the arrangements, told the singers how to phrase, masterminded all phases of
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#1732790622176660-506: The journal Film Culture , American film critic Andrew Sarris translated the French term la politique des auteurs , by François Truffaut in 1955, into Sarris's term auteur theory . Sarris applied it to Hollywood films, and elaborated in his 1968 book, The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968 , which helped popularize the English term. Via auteur theory, critical and public scrutiny of films shifted from their stars to
690-458: The late 1960s, performers typically had little input on their own records. Wilson, however, employed the studio like an instrument, as well as a high level of studio control that other artists soon sought. According to The Atlantic ' s Jason Guriel, the Beach Boys' 1966 album Pet Sounds , produced by Wilson, anticipated later auteurs such as Kanye West , as well as "the rise of
720-458: The overall creation. In the 1960s and the 1970s, a new generation of directors, revitalizing filmmaking by wielding greater control, manifested the New Hollywood era, when studios granted directors more leeway to take risks. Yet in the 1980s, upon high-profile failures like Heaven's Gate , studios reasserted control, muting the auteur theory. Pauline Kael , an early critic of auteur theory, debated Andrew Sarris in magazines. Defending
750-400: The pantheon of auteur directors. She argues that there is no shortage of non-American women directors that could be considered auteurs, and lists Andrea Arnold , Jane Campion , Liliana Cavani , Claire Denis , Marleen Gorris , Agnieszka Holland , Lynne Ramsay , Agnes Varda, and Lina Wertmuller as being among them, but goes on to say that women are rarely afforded financing for films in
780-542: The producer" and "the modern pop-centric era, which privileges producer over artist and blurs the line between entertainment and art. ... Anytime a band or musician disappears into a studio to contrive an album-length mystery, the ghost of Wilson is hovering near." 2013 Toronto International Film Festival The 38th annual Toronto International Film Festival ( TIFF ) took place in Toronto , Ontario , Canada between September 5 and 15, 2013. The Fifth Estate
810-419: The recording process with the most painful attention to detail, and released the result on his own label. Another early pop music auteur was Brian Wilson , mentored by Spector. In 1962, Wilson's band, the Beach Boys , signed to Capitol Records and swiftly became a commercial success, whereby Wilson was an early recording artist who was also an entrepreneurial producer. Before the " progressive pop " of
840-642: Was born in Bressuire , Deux-Sèvres , but grew up in Niort . She decided to become a writer and director at the age of twelve after watching Ingmar Bergman 's Sawdust and Tinsel , believing she had found her "fictional body" in Harriet Andersson 's character, Anna. She started her career after studying acting at Yves Furet's "Studio d'Entraînement de l'Acteur" in Paris together with her sister, actress Marie-Hélène Breillat (born 2 June 1947) in 1967. At
870-427: Was likened to Howard Hawks , Alfred Hitchcock , and Satyajit Ray . In particular, Jean-Luc Godard credited Lewis's "personal genius" for making him "the only one in Hollywood doing something different, the only one who isn't falling in with the established categories, the norms, the principles", "the only one today who's making courageous films". As early as his 1962 essay "Notes on the auteur theory", published in
900-642: Was still recovering from her stroke. The book is titled Abus de faiblesse , a French legal term usually translated as "abuse of weakness". In 2012, Rocancourt was convicted of abus de faiblesse for taking Breillat's money, and sentenced to prison. In September 2010, Breillat's second fairy-tale based film, La belle endormie ( Sleeping Beauty ), opened in the Orizzonti sidebar in the 67th Venice Film Festival . As of 2011, although Breillat had moved on to other projects, she still hoped to film Bad Love , but had not yet been able to find financing to do so. However,
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