auteur

American  

[oh-tur, oh-tœr] / oʊˈtɜr, oʊˈtœr /

noun

• auteurs
  plural

1. a filmmaker whose individual style and complete control over all elements of production give a film its personal and unique stamp.

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auteur British  

/ ɔːˈtɜː /

noun

1. a director whose creative influence on a film is so great as to be considered its author

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• auteurism
  noun
• auteurist
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• auteurs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of auteur

1960–65; < French: literally, author, originator < Latin auctor. See author

Explanation

If you're an auteur, you make movies that show off your personal style and vision, and you make those movies exactly the way you want: you won’t let any studio executives force you to change the ending. The word auteur came into English from the French word of the same name, meaning literally “author.” If you’re an auteur, you are truly the author of your own movie. Most movies have a lot of different people contributing to the final product, but an auteur insists on having the final say, and hates it when her vision is compromised. The word even has an uppity feel and sound to it. Pronounce it "oh-TUR."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

auteur auteurs

France's Culture Minister Catherine Pegard paid tribute to Altmayer as a "producer with a keen eye, capable of bringing together popular comedy and auteur ambition with the same accuracy".

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

Call it Bluegrass Noir, and Busby the doomed auteur living out his songs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

They wanted “Animal House,” and he thought he was entering his auteur period.

From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026

The veteran casting director was working with auteur Alejandro Monteverde on his upcoming biblical epic, “Zero A.D.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2026

Relevant here, of course, is Foucault’s famous discussion of the author function: ‘Qu’est-ce qu’un auteur?’

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Meanwhile major auteurs of a previous generation scored commercial comebacks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

Too much of the program is made up of tedious movies by beloved Cannes veterans — essentially affirmative action for auteurs.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026

Fukada, whose previous films include "Harmonium" and last year's "Love on Trial" about J-pop stars, counters that record revenue figures for the Japanese box office last year disguise struggles for independent auteurs like him.

From Barron's ● May 13, 2026

These are times so surreal that even one of cinema’s most nostalgia-obsessed auteurs felt compelled to return to the present, if only to offer some sympathy.

From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2025

The French ecclesiastical historian Louis Elias Dupin, born in 1657 and descended from a noble family in Normandy, was the author of the illustrious work La Bibliothèque Universelle des auteurs ecclésiastiques.

From Books Fatal to Their Authors by P. H. (Peter Hampson) Ditchfield