I wish I had the capacity to write walls of texts to defend my favorite “auteur.”
Pauline Kael was right and film history has only proved her points.
I’m a firm believer in the auteur theory as you have to look no further than George Lucas himself or the likes of Andrei Tarkovsky, Ingmar Bergman, Francis Ford Coppola, Mike Leigh, Hayao Miyazaki, Agnès Varda, Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger, and countless others to see that a singular or coupled vision being accurately portrayed on the screen is so much more powerful than that of one made in committees. That’s not to say the filmmaker doesn’t have help in crafting their vision but when you invite outside influence you end up with a story that lacks direction or has mixed messages as it has no centre or heartbeat to sustain itself upon rewatch value or the long term before another product is delivered. You don’t get anything from watching the same thing over and over. Re: Marvel films. It’s delightful I suppose but cinema has so much potential than just to please you and to give you exactly what you want. The story may not be what you wanted but understanding why the auteur made the choices they did is such an adventure in of itself. It’s the reason a film like The Phantom Menace stands on its own. It may not be the film most fans wanted but it has so much rewatch value as there’s always something new to discover within it. Where is this in committee filmmaking? What’s going on underneath the surface? I don’t think you get that from seeing X-Wings and TIE Fighters again and again. It’s like junk food. It can be so good but it’s more pleasure than delight that sustains you. Besides the dictionary has over 170,000 words. You may as well use it with moral responsibility or at least with well intentions.
Pauline Kael is right on some things and other things I find, no. The only reason she’s being proven “correct” with this is Hollywood studios are increasingly risk adverse. They’re not experimental or giving opportunities to the auteur to make the films they want to see. Instead they’re favouring an approach where the filmmaker is taken out of the picture and replaced by someone who will do as they please with what the marketing team thinks will sell and deliver a profit.