Word.ws English Dictionary

auteur theory

auteur theory noun: the view of film as an art form with an original and personal stylistic vision, especially in contrast to collective authorship in the studio system.

Noun

auteur theory (uncountable)

  1. The view of film as an art form with an original and personal stylistic vision, especially in contrast to collective authorship in the studio system.
    • The intense degree of controversy that surrounds a discussion of the auteur theory as formulated by Truffaut and that has affected every level of “movie talk” from cocktail party gatherings to doctoral reviews can be partly assuaged in considering Bazin's role in the evolution of the politique des...1986, Aaron Sultanik, Film, a Modern Art, Associated University Presses, →ISBN, page 83
    • At this point, it is necessary to say something about the auteur theory since this has often been seen as a way of introducing the idea of the creative personality into the Hollywood cinema.2019, Peter Wollen, Signs and Meaning in the Cinema, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN

Origin of auteur theory

Popularized by American film critic Andrew Sarris (1928–2012).

Questions about auteur theory

What does auteur theory mean?
Auteur theory means the view of film as an art form with an original and personal stylistic vision, especially in contrast to collective authorship in the studio system.
What part of speech is auteur theory?
Auteur theory is a noun.

Words near auteur theory in the dictionary

  1. Auten
  2. Autens
  3. autetaranga
  4. Auteuil
  5. auteur
  6. auteur theory
  7. auteured
  8. auteurial
  9. auteuring
  10. auteurism
  11. auteurist

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: auteur theory (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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