Auteur Theory

Auteur theory states that the director is the author of a film, and should weild their camera in the same way an author does a pen (camera-stylo). The term 'auteur theory' was coined by Andrew Sarris as a way to judge films by way of their director, an idea that had been risen during the french new wave but not named. Sarris stated that 3 aspects must be present within a film to decide the integrity of the director: technical competence, distinguishable personality and interior meaning. Pauline Kael, however, argued that if a film is 'good,' then the director is irrelevant and the artist should be judged by the art, not the other way around, therefore the 'distinguishable personality' point is irrelevant to the quality of the film.