auteur

EnglishEdit

WOTD – 4 July 2011

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from French auteur (“author”). Popularised by François Truffaut in the 1954 essay “Une certaine tendance du cinéma français” (“A certain tendency in French cinema”) in the influential film journal Cahiers du Cinéma as the phrase “la politique des Auteurs”. Doublet of author.

PronunciationEdit

(General American) IPA^(key): /oʊˈtɝ/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɔːˈtɜː/, /əʊˈtɜː/
- Audio (UK) (file)
Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)
Hyphenation: au‧teur
Homophone: hauteur

NounEdit

auteur (plural auteurs)

A creative artist, especially a film director, seen as having a specific, recognisable artistic vision, and who is seen as the single or preeminent ‘author’ of his works.
- 1974 February 11, William Bender, “Call to vespers”, in Time:
  The libretto was a piece of hack work from a Parisian scenario factory run by an enterprising auteur of sorts named Eugene Scribe.
- 2003 April 24, “Broadway is bigger than ever”, in The Economist‎^[1]:
  Since Mr Luhrmann first tackled the opera, he has entered the select circle of celebrity directors on the basis of only three films, including “Moulin Rouge”. And his “La Bohème”—designed by Mrs Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, a double Oscar-winner for “Moulin Rouge”—is avowedly the work of an auteur.
- 2008, Rosanna Maule, Beyond Auteurism: New Directions in Authorial Film Practices in France, Italy and Spain Since the 1980s, Intellect Books, →ISBN, page 90:
  Ginette Vincendeau describes the cinéma du look as a typical example of ‘mainstream co-optation’ of ‘avant-garde, artisanal, or auteur’ cinema (1996: 14).
- 2011 June 23, Jane Graham, “Terrence Malick to Woody Allen – the directors actors will kill to work for”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:
  If a widely respected auteur such as Martin Scorsese, Allen or Malick has given you the stamp of approval, you might not live fast or die young, but you'll leave a good-looking legacy.

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

author

TranslationsEdit

creative artist

Arabic: please add this translation if you can
Armenian: հեղինակ (hy) (hełinak)
Chinese:
Mandarin: (explanatory) 具有自己獨特風格的電影導演, 具有自己独特风格的电影导演 (jùyǒu zìjǐ dútè fēnggé de diànyǐng dǎoyǎn), 著者 (zh) (zhùzhě)
Czech: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: auteur (nl) m
Finnish: tekijä (fi), auktori (fi)
French: auteur (fr) m
German: Autorenfilmer m, Cineast (de) m
Hindi: कलाकार (hi) n (kalākār)

Italian: cineasta (it) m
Japanese: please add this translation if you can
Korean: please add this translation if you can
Portuguese: autor (pt) m
Romanian: autor (ro) m
Russian: авто́р (ru) m (avtór)
Spanish: autor (es) m
Swedish: auteur (sv) c
Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can