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Auteurism is a term first coined by Francois Truffaut to describe the mark of a film director on his films. A director can be considered an auteur if about five of his film depict a certain style that is definitely his own. In other words, much like one can look at a painting and tell if it is a Monet, a Renoir, or a Degas, if a film director is an auteur, one can look at his film and tell by style and recurring themes that it was made by a certain director. In auteur films, the director is many times what brings an audience to the theater, instead of the actors or storyline. I am going to take a look at three of the most noted auteurs: Frederico Fellini, Satyajit Ray, and Alfred Hitchcock.

I watched five of Frederico Fellini’s films: La Dolce Vita, 8-1/2, Juliet of the Spirits, La Strada, and City of Women. In all of these films, I noticed Fellini’s enormous use of imagery, which of course he is most noted for. However, I also noticed a recurring set of character archetypes. These archetypes are the sex object, the wife, and the typical man.

First, we see the use of the sex object in 8-1/2. The young boy and his friends encounter the whore. With this encounter we see that a mixed batch of emotions, delight, cruelty, wonder, scaredness, and finally guilt. This scene is a perfect example of sexual awakening. The whore’s sexuality and the boy’s responses to it are shown with crosscuts between her suggestive motions and their shock and ultimate joy. When she invites the boy to come closer, he has mixed feelings, but is ultimately pressured by his friends. Fellini finishes this episode perfectly- the boys are caught red-handed by adults. In City of Women similar experience is portrayed. This time it is with a loving maternal figure. The young boy is confused when returning her affections- he has a mix of sexual excitement and shameless affection. The camera angle is that of a child’s view, and he looks at her...