auteur theory

Critical theory of cinema that, despite the collaborative nature of film-making, posits an individual (usually the director) as the sole author of a film, and highlights a range of stylistic and thematic features that can be discerned as recurrent motifs throughout the given film-maker's oeuvre.

Developed in France in the early 1950s, and subsequently adopted by critics in the UK and USA, the theory initially served to elevate ostensibly commercial Hollywood directors such as Howard Hawks and Nicholas Ray to the ranks of ‘respectable’ artists.