Coursework Two - What makes an Auteur? – What makes a filmmaker an Auteur?

The concept of an Auteur in film refers to a film made by a person who is also the primary author of the work from the French for ‘author’. Unsurprisingly, the concept developed in post-liberation France which found its cinemas swamped by previously banned American films.  French audiences were overwhelmed by films about which they knew next to nothing. As result of seeing these films for the first time, in effect on a blank slate, French critics claimed to see certain recurring themes and motifs from the various directors. That suggested, to film critics, that certain directors, through the use of certain techniques which occurred in many of their films were actually ‘creating’ an individual style comparable to that of an author (auteur) in literature.  The critics were thus able to see a directors work as a whole in conceptualising a visual authorship in their directorial methodologies and idiosyncraticies.  There are many filmmakers whose films represent the auteur qualities in them the individual characteristic of the filmmakers’ individual style and approach to the ‘literature’ of visual style is apparent. In these films, the director becomes the screenwriter.

An excellent, and admittedly obvious, example is the director Woody Allen as an archetypal example of the director-auteur. Most of his films include auteur qualities, such as repetitive themes and motifs, recurring images and autobiographical elements. To understand better Allen’s auteur qualities, it is worth looking at three of his films: 'Take the Money and Run' (1969),  'Bananas' (1971), and 'Annie Hall' (1977).

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In these films Allen was director, screenwriter and (for the first time in Take the Money and Run) protagonist, which allowed him to premier his popular 'Woody Allen’ character (Girgus 2002). This highlights the domination of the major aspects of the filmmaking process by one man, the director-auteur, Woody Allen. In particular, Allen is the leading American comedic filmmaker and therefore he is known for his distinctive sense of humour, which can be illustrated in his films. Good examples include the ‘Bank Robbery’ scene in 'Take the Money and Run', the ‘Court Scene’ in 'Bananas' and the ‘Easter’ scene in 'Annie Hall'.

Sam Girgus, in his book, makes the important point that ‘Allen and much of contemporary critical theory should work well together because he concentrates so intensely on the place and situation of women, the role of psychoanalysis, and the social construction of art forms.’

                                                  

 (Click here to see 'Take the Money and Run' trailer)

The first theme, which is common in his films, is that Allan uses psychoanalysis. Therefore the characters he is playing are usually ‘weirdoes’ and ‘outsiders’, who are going through a psychological journey during the film. In 'Take the Money and Run', he stars as Virgil Starkwell, who is presented as a ‘lame duck’ and, likewise, in 'Bananas', Allen plays Fielding Mellish, who is a ‘broke and clumsy fool’ and, somewhat in a departure from the norm, Allan as, Alvy Singer in 'Annie Hall', plays Alvy Singer, who is presented as a New York intellectual obsessed with death. These three characters played by the actor significantly change during the film and to achieve that Allen uses visual images and language to present their psychic instability and confusion (Girgus 2008).

In his films, Allen ‘personalizes’ his stories with his own life and persona (as an actor – thereby combining director-auteur and actor), as François Truffaut in his essay remarks ‘a true film auteur is someone who brings something genuinely personal to his subject instead of just producing a tasteful, accurate but lifeless rendering of the original material.’ Such autobiographical elements are apparent in Bananas and Annie Hall, where Allen relates to his own personal life or to significant people in his life. In Bananas the examples can easily be seen, as the main character was born on the same day as the director (1 Dec. 1935) and a ‘Felini-esque’ dream sequence in which the main character dreams that he is carried on a cross through Manhattan by a group of monks, which relate to his religious origin, as being Jewish.  This almost surely a reference to his supposed inspiration - Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries. In Annie Hall, he relates too this Jewish identity although the significant thing to note is that Allen took the name and the key character in this film from the actress Diane Keaton (Allen was in love with her), who claimed that the film presents an idealized version of her. Even the name of the film is related to her name, as she was born as Diane Hall and ‘Annie’ was one of her nicknames.

These three films demonstrate that Woody Allen is an excellent example of an auteur filmmaker, whose qualities are visible in his films as a result of his use of, and references to, to the author’s own personal experiences and his aspirations to the work of other American and European directors. Sam Girgus called Allen ‘a legend in his own times’. His films are considered outstanding masterpieces, because they were the result of the director-auteur controlling the whole ‘creative’ process of filmmaking.




Videos: 

Take the Money and Run (1969): Trailer.Available online from TCM
[Accessed on 1st of March 2013]

Take the Money and Run(1969): Bank Robbery Scene. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 1st of March 2013]

Bananas (1971): Court Scene. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

Bananas (1971): Therapy and Dream Sequence. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

Bananas (1971): Trailer. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 21st of February 2013]

Annie Hall (1977): Easter Scene. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

Annie Hall (1977): Trailer. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 20th of February 2013]

Wild Strawberries (1957). Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

References: 

Caughie, J., 1988. Theories of Authorship. London: Routledge. Available online from Google Books [Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

Gilks, T., 2012. Bananas. Every Woody Allen Movie. Available online from www.everywoodyallenmovie.com  [Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

Gilks, T., 2012. Take the Money and Run. Every Woody Allen Movie. Available online from www.everywoodyallenmovie.com [Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

Gilks, T., 2012. Annie Hall. Every Woody Allen Movie. Available online from www.everywoodyallenmovie.com [Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

Girgus, S., 2002. The Films of Woody Allen. 2^nd edition. New York: Cambridge University Press. Available online from Google Books [Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

IMD website [Accessed on 27th of February 2013]


Leung, R., 2007. Q&A: Diane Keaton. Available online from Google Books
[Accessed on 2nd of March 2013]

Moran, M., 1999. The Problem with Auteurism. Intro to Film Studies. Available online from
Google Books [Accessed on 27th of February 2013]