Billy Wilder: An Auteur?

Billy Wilder: Auteur or just an author?

To understand if Wilder ticks off the boxes for the complicated job that is auteurship, we must define what being an auteur entails. First and foremost, auteurs tend to be characterised by their distinctive styles, being instantly recognisable by a familiar audience. This is usually achieved by a stylistic synthesis of colour, lighting, mise-en-scene for a consistent visual appearance, along with characters and themes that are similar throughout an auteur's filmography. An example of this would be Wes Anderson who's use of bright colours, symmetry and characters who don't act their age makes each of his films instantly recognisable. Recurring actors, cinematographers and composers help an auteur keep consistent.

Wilder can be seen as an auteur in some ways but not others. When comparing Sunset Boulevard and Some Like It Hot - arguably his two defining films - there is a clear difference in tone, lighting and style. However, each is distinctively Wilder for other reasons. Firstly, characters act similar within both films, defined with mental health issues, passive acceptance to their current situation (Joe staying in the mansion in Sunset Boulevard or Joe and Gerald staying in drag in Some Like It Hot). Wilder's auteurship status is also defined through his recurring and consistent themes which pushed against the zeitgeist of the time. Whether it be Sunset Boulevard critiquing the film industry or Some Like It Hot discussing issues of representation of sexuality and gender, Wilder is more than happy to push these ideas into the mainstream where his contemporaries wouldn't. 
Of course, if auteurship is defined by a complete spectrum of consistency and filmmaking identity, then Wilder falls short in certain areas, however, exploring different genres shouldn't detract from a filmmakers creative integrity and I think that Wilder is the definition of an auteur.

Comments

  1. Lisa SocratesNovember 5, 2020 at 12:20 PM

    Daniel, you offer an engaging, well-written and informed piece which is focused on the theme at hand. The ideas are relevant, wide ranging and clearly examined as you take the reader through the individual points. In order to further improve the scope of your work I would like you to select at least one sequence from each film studied and then to use the sequences to examine the question.
    Thank you for your efforts.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Some Like It Hot - 'yacht scene' analysis

   Key elements of film form:    As with all film scenes, film form is the most important element to making them work, or fail. As the camera acts as the camera for the spectator, and sound and lighting create mood and atmosphere, film form is essential to engage the spectator. In Some Like It Hot, film form is used in a variety of ways to engage the viewer, many of which can be duly noted whilst watching this scene.   Starting with  cinematography,  the camera takes lots of long-shots at medium close-up to focus the spectator's attention on the dialogue and chemistry between the actors. The camera uses angles to focus on one actor in particular or stays directly centered when focused on both actors. Quite simply, the camera goes where the spectator's attention is needed. To add to this, the use of distance can act as a demonstrator of the level of comfort and intimacy between the two actors, standing back slightly in the beginning as Sugar is nervous ...
Read more

Some Like It Hot (28/09/20 - 20/10/20) - running blog and essay

Image
Some Like It Hot (Wilder, 1959)   The film reflects upon the time of the 1920s in several ways. Firstly, the use of mise-en-scene to depict certain activities which are regularly associated with the 1920s, such as bootlegging alcohol and gangs, immediately sets the time and tone of the film which is important because society had progressed a lot over thirty-to-forty years. This is further exemplified through the use of costume with typical clothing for men with suits and spats and also typical clothing for the more liberated woman - "flappers" - who would wear revealing dresses. Lighting is quite bright - even with darker themes like gangsters and prohibition - to create a light-hearted and comedic atmosphere so the more "controversial" themes of identity and sexuality would be taken comically rather than seriously - as such not violating the Hays Code. Female identity: Female identity is presented in an atypical manner for the time, having men act like women. Focus...
Read more