Nada Mudawi-- The Auteur Theory -- Unit 26 Film Studies - Task 5-- Richard Curtis

Nada Mudawi -The Auteur Theory - Richard Curtis

The Auteur Theory, which originates from the 1940s , and is closely associated with the French new wave (a method of film analysis) meant that an audience can instantaneously identify a director by watching their film and noticing a unique style of theirs- this could be the use of lighting, actors, action , shot types and running themes. Some of the early pioneers of the auteur filmmaking were the French directors; Francois Truffaut who is best known for his speech
The word 'auteur' was thought to be coined by a man named 'Bazin' who was a famous film critic and theorist.


The Auteur Theory is perhaps the one that I personally enjoy researching about the most out of the other theories. This is simply because although all of the other theories are evidently proven in many films, this one I feel from a film studies point of view gives  the most accurate and genuine explanation of the logic behind directors and aspects of their films. An auteur is a person who has the steering wheal in a film, this meaning they have power over many things which are included in films ,such as lighting , themes , action etc. Auteur's usually have distinctive creative influence in their work. The audience can often easily spot a directors film by the way it looks, the mood of the film, values and themes in the film or by a motif. An example of this is you can often tell a Steven Spielberg film by a particular camera shot type he very much likes to use. This shot would be a medium close-up, and we see the actor is looking off camera and then the camera usually stays like so for 5-6 seconds on their face to show their emotions. This camera shot is famously known or referred to as ‘the Spielberg face’.

Richard Curtis is considered an auteur as there are many similarities in the films he has worked on. Curtis directed popular films such as Love Actually, The Boat That Rocked and most recently About Time. Curtis was also the executive producer on Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral and co-wrote the screenplay for Bridget Jones’s Diary. Curtis’s films often have an ensemble cast; this can be seen in Love Actually, The Boat That Rocked and also Four Weddings and a Funeral.
                                  

Hugh Grant has starred in many of Richard Curtis’s films as a incompetent Englishman type character. We see Grant in various films; Four weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love actually and most recently About time. His voice in these films tends to always sound very upper hand, a bit aristocratic and he is most of the time seen dressed smartly. Hugh Grant also narrates both Notting Hill and Love Actually. As Curtis likes the lead male role always be the narrator, and this is another element which makes Curtis an auteur - he is dependent on male, dominant narrators in his films, this helps the audience to identify that he is an auteur as they wouldn't therefore not expect a female to be the narrator. Perhaps Curtis has done this because he wants to emphasis on male dominance and the importance of male characters. This makes the audience feel like they are being told a story, almost like a fairy tale. Therefore, Curtis is a conformity to the auteur theory because he uses the same actor in most of his films, this means that an audience who watch these films, will automatically identify the director. ''oh look it's Hugh Grant, it must be a Richard Curtis film''. 

Often the British characters in Curtis’s films follow the stereotype of a typical white person. They're often posh and well-spoken and in the beginning unfortunately in love. Both the characters and the scenery are often glamorous in Curtis’s films to give for instance a foreigner who is watching the films a general perspective of what Britain and the British atmosphere is like. This can be seen in 'Notting Hill' when Will, a character in the film, is walking down a street. You can see that the buildings look professional and there is a lot of foliage about the place, which makes the environment look quite decent. The weather also makes London look appealing as it is sunny and bright. Several scenes in Notting Hill are also set in the Ritz hotel. The Ritz is one of London’s most upmarket hotels and represents London to the audience as being an idyllic place to visit or live. This again shows Curtis to be an auteur as we see the same location or even ideas of location recce used in several of his films.

Marriage is the frequent theme which I have spotted running through Curtis's films. This is seen especially in his film 'Four Weddings And a Funeral' where we see four different weddings between  Angus & Laura, Bernard & Lydia, Carrie & Hamish and finally Charles & Henrietta. Another wedding we see take place is in 'About Time' and 'Love actually'. In 'Love Actually' the wedding is between Peter and Juliet. The wedding scene is romantic which would appeal to the female target audience. A female audience would probably enjoy watching these scenes because they gain escapism from it, where they would imagine how their wedding day would be like, perhaps the wedding scenes also help the female audience to get personal information on what a wedding would be like, if they didn't know.
Wedding proposals also take place in several of Cutis’s films. These include Bridget and Mark in Bridget Jones’s Diary and Jamie and Aurelia in Love Actually. In both of these engagements something stops or delay's them from happening. In Bridget Jones’s Diary Mark says to Bridget “There’s a question I’ve been meaning to ask you” and Bridget replies “As long as it’s not will you marry me” which puts Mark off proposing to Bridget. In 'Love Actually' Aurelia goes back to her home country, which means that Jamie has to fly to another country to propose. When he gets there he has to search for her as she is in work. In both of these situations love almost acts as a deferral for some time until ultimately both couples do end up getting engaged. Love being a power is another theme that runs throughout Curtis’s films. Most couples in his movies go through a journey which separates them, but they always find love in the end. Generically Romantic films usually have a happy ending; this makes the audience happy and makes the film feel complete.

To contrast this although Curtis likes his themes to portray happiness and love as we see in the many marriages, Curtis also often uses the theme of death. The loss of a life allows the audience to mourn alongside the characters, they are drawn with sympathy. This is why Daniel and his step-son Sam lose their wife and mother in the beginning of 'Love Actually'. The audience sympathize with them and hope for them to have a happy ending, which ultimately does happen. In 'Four Weddings and a funeral' the character of Gareth passes away. The audience  feel sympathy not only for him but for those characters that were close to him and hope that things become lightweight for them.

Curtis often likes to contain story-lines which focus on life's hardships in his films. One example of this would be disability. In Notting Hill the character of Bella is in a wheel chair. Curtis also includes homosexual characters in his films. In Four Weddings and a Funeral the characters of Matthew and Gareth are gay. Curtis chooses to tackle these subjects in his film to show that these people are normal and are as capable as everyone else.