The director is regarded as the creative author who imparts a unique identity to a film.
3 criteria for auteurism
Andrew Sarris: Part 1
suggests that the directors do not always follow the formcritics can never assume a bad director will always make bad films and a good director will always make good films.
There are more elements such as photography, editing, and acting to decide what makes good films rather then depending on the director alone.Sarris intimates that a film can be produced without a director.
“A direction that is nonexistent” would be difficult for critics to evaluate the production.
Andrew Sarris: Part 2 & 3
Sarris’ theory assumes that the films should exhibit the director’s distinct personality, his “recurrent characteristics or style,” and the specific ways that the director thinks and feels.
The third criterion for auteur theory is the interior meaning of the film, “the ultimate glory of the cinema as an art.”
A response to Sarris critiques the fundamental premise of auteur theory. Argues that the theory glorifies directors who rely on repetitive and overly obvious techniques. Objects to Sarris’ tone regarding the significance of auteur theory in analyzing a director’s body of work as a cohesive whole. Kael emphasizes that while the growth of technical skill or competence throughout an artist’s career is important, it should not be the sole standard for evaluation.
Pauline Kael: Circles and Squares
To Kael, a better area of critique, and the ultimate function of a critic, is ‘perceiving what is original and important in new work and helping others to see’.
She also considers it to be a complete misunderstanding of the necessarily talents required for the production of art as many great directors violate rules of technical competence.
The auteur may be understood as:
A person who prompts and execute the core themes, techniques and expressive agendas of a film.
A figure around whom the key enunciative techniques and meanings of a film accrue and find implied cohesion.
A figure who provides the organising principles of textual practices to engage with, and create motivated spectatorial positions.