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Auteur theory in film….wait, please don’t go, I won’t bore you with that. I’ll just get straight to it and tell you about a wonderful website which offers free movies, a perfect and natural home for film fans. I stumbled upon this a while back and a commenter also posted a link on an earlier cinematheque post.

The Auteurs is an extensive online movie database where films can be viewed on your home computer or laptop. Admittedly most movies have a charge but there are a number which are possible to view for free and these change regularly. Initial sign up costs nothing, if you want to pay to watch any particular movies after that then that’s up to you.

http://www.theauteurs.com/

What I found amazing when I first stumbled upon this site is the range of films they have. They offer a cocktail of classics, cult, new directors and some absolute rarities I can’t imagine finding elsewhere. Even the most ardent movie fan will find it an education. What does tie their titles together is the name of the site, The Auteurs. Now I’ll bore you.

Auteur is quite simply the French for author. When mentioned alongside film the term relates to a director with a very specific style either visually or thematically. This spans genres and there are noted auteurs like Mario Bava making horror movies alongside Truffaut’s supposedly higher class art house films.

The term seems overused these days and especially caught the public attention when last year’s Cannes festival was christened the battle of the auteurs with Jacques Audiard and Michael Haneke went head to head for the Palm D’or. The term is certainly no mark of quality, an auteur can employ their recurring aesthetics and themes to produce consistently abysmal or reliably dull pieces. On the other hand Clint Eastwood would never be regarded as one but remains a master filmmaker. Style is not always relevant to spinning a good yarn onscreen. Often though autuers are directors with vision and their works are both unique and creative.

The Auteurs is a site worth checking out to re-explore your favourite classics or discover a new name in the arena of world cinema. Why not start with Antonioni and work your way through to Zebrianus.