Podcast Summary: New Books Network

Episode: Robert P. Kolker and David Wyatt, "The Film Auteur: Angles of Vision" (Routledge, 2026)

Date: February 17, 2026
Host: Pete Kunzee
Guests: Robert P. Kolker and David Wyatt

Overview

This episode features a thoughtful conversation with film scholars Robert P. Kolker and David Wyatt about their new book, The Film Auteur: Angles of Vision. The discussion explores the enduring concept of the auteur (director as author) in film studies, tracing its historical foundations, academic impact, and contemporary significance. The authors reflect on their personal journeys toward film scholarship, the collaborative nature of their project, and the shifting meanings and debates surrounding auteur theory across global cinema, genre, and representation.

1. Beginnings: Personal Histories and the Genesis of the Project

• Kolker’s Background:
  • Kolker describes his transition from literary studies to film after a revelatory encounter with a cycle of Buñuel’s Mexican films at Syracuse. Observing “continuities from film to film” shifted his academic focus (01:07).
• Wyatt’s Background:
  • Wyatt’s relationship with film intensified through his proximity to movie culture in California and, later, through his wife’s independent theater in Charlottesville, giving him “intimate contact with both running a theater as a business and also choosing and thinking about movies” (02:06).
• Project Origin:
  • Kolker pitches the idea to Routledge during a “quiet period between books,” seeking Wyatt’s collaboration for broader perspective (03:22).
  • “The heart of the book is beating with both of us, but louder with David.” — Kolker (03:22)

2. Defining the Auteur and the Evolution of Auteur Theory

• What Is an Auteur?

  • The term, originally French, entered American discourse via critics recognizing distinct directorial “continuity across the board” regardless of writers or studios (06:35).
  • Kolker calls auteur theory “a necessary untruth” in Hollywood due to the highly collaborative nature of American filmmaking.
  • “Still, I mean, even in Welles’s case … there’s no question when you look at an image, a single image, a still image from the Welles film, who did it? Who made it?” — Kolker (08:56)

• Critical Debates:

  • Wyatt references Roland Barthes and the “invasion of context” that decentered authors in literary theory (05:31).
  • Kael’s critique and Sarris’s championing of ranked auteurs highlight ongoing disciplinary debates (13:08).
  • Kolker: “Pauline Kael is a nuisance.” (13:13)

• Impact on Film Studies as a Discipline:

  • Kolker: “It gave film a proper name. … It removed anonymity from film.” (11:26)
  • Wyatt discusses Andrew Sarris’s influence in importing auteur theory to the US, making hierarchy and canon part of academic practice (11:57).

3. Book Structure and Approach

• Editorial Choices:

  • The book moves away from Sarris’s strict rankings: “We chose who we liked and who we thought would yield good ideas.” — Kolker (14:42)
  • Coverage starts with postwar “Movement Auteurs” including neorealism, the French New Wave, and the New German Cinema (15:11, 16:13).
  • The focus leans toward second half of the 20th century, reflecting the authors’ own personal cultural awakening as “postwar babies” (16:50).

• Including the Global:

  • The influence of neorealism, for instance, is shown to be global, as with the work of Indian director Satyajit Ray (21:45).

4. Key Themes and Discussion Points

A. Movements and Forerunners

• Neorealism:
  • Rossellini’s resourceful, on-location filmmaking established “immediacy” and a documentary feel, shifting film out of studio constraints (19:18, 20:04).
  • “Neorealism swept the world … When Ray began his OPU trilogy, he began thinking about how neorealism worked. And these are, in fact, neorealist films.” — Kolker (21:45)
• Classical Auteurs:
  • Eisenstein, Murnau, and Griffith are essential precursors, each associated with hallmark innovations: montage, moving camera, close-up, and film grammar (23:06, 24:13).
  • “They are the three legs that film history builds on.” — Kolker (25:09)

B. Genre and Authorship

• Genres and the Auteur:
  • Directors often operate within and against genres; the best ironize, interrogate, or transcend generic expectations (26:19, 26:44).
  • Comedy is “not that funny … full of tears, it’s full of critique.” — Wyatt (26:44)
• Grandmasters:
  • Welles, Hitchcock, and Kubrick are “consistently profound … and rich with material unlike almost any other filmmakers.” — Kolker (29:05)
  • Kolker on their contrasting styles: “Welles is fire and Kubrick was ice … Hitchcock is the mathematician of cinema.” (29:51)

C. Technique, Form, and Theme

• Form vs. Content:
  • The book argues auteurism is as much about technique as theme. For instance, Ozu’s formal discipline, camera position, and narrative restraint communicate deep emotion (38:59).
  • “All this longing and desire that’s not being allowed to be expressed … something is seeking release.” — Wyatt on Ozu (39:31)
• Auteurist Mastery:
  • Later Welles (“Chimes at Midnight”) is praised as superior in emotional and technical achievement to the more commonly celebrated “Citizen Kane” (31:53, 33:36).
  • “His later films, The Trial and Chimes at Midnight are better than Citizen Kane … they are more, they’re richer, they’re the work of a mature mind.” — Kolker (31:53)

D. Beyond the Western Canon: Gender, Globalism

• Women Auteurs & Female Gaze:
  • The chapter addresses whether there’s an identifiable “female gaze,” focusing on Dorothy Arzner, Jane Campion, and Ida Lupino (44:03).
  • “We call that chapter ‘A female gaze,’ not ‘the female gaze.’ … Can there be one? … What would it look like?” — Wyatt (46:33)
  • Lupino’s The Bigamist is highlighted for its compassionate exchange between two women — “The gazes express all the failures of the culture … to make relations between men and women more congenial.” — Wyatt (47:56)
• Women in TV:
  • Kolker notes, “where the women filmmakers are now are on television … And you can begin to see a difference here and there.” (45:47)

5. Reflections and Conclusions

• Personal Rediscoveries:

  • Kolker: “I was sort of reaffirmed in my belief in the power of the director … my intimacy with their work has sort of grown. And it was an intellectual pleasure and an emotional pleasure.” (48:46)
  • Wyatt: “I came to believe that the auteur theory needs to take as much account as it can of dialogue” — not just images and scenes, but also words and scriptwriting (49:22).

• Enduring Relevance:

  • The auteur remains crucial as both a critical and emotional anchor for cinephilia and scholarship.
  • Both authors reflect on love affairs with the artists and works they study and teach — “Others will love what we have loved and we will teach them how.” — (51:35)

6. Notable Quotes & Moments

• "The heart of the book is beating with both of us, but louder with David." — Kolker, on collaboration (03:22)
• "Pauline Kael is a nuisance." — Kolker, on auteur theory debates (13:13)
• "It gave film a proper name ... It removed anonymity from film." — Kolker, on auteur theory’s significance (11:26)
• "They are the three legs that film history builds on." — Kolker, on Griffith, Eisenstein, Murnau (25:09)
• "Comedy is fundamentally not that funny ... it’s full of tears, it’s full of critique." — Wyatt (26:44)
• "Welles is fire and Kubrick was ice." — Kolker, on contrasting directors (29:51)
• "All this longing and desire that’s not being allowed to be expressed ... something is seeking release." — Wyatt, on Ozu (39:31)
• "We call that chapter 'a female gaze,' not 'the female gaze.' ... Can there be one? Given the ... nature of the industry, and where would it come from?" — Wyatt (46:33)
• "I was sort of reaffirmed in my belief in the power of the director ... it was an intellectual pleasure and an emotional pleasure." — Kolker (48:46)
• "Others will love what we have loved and we will teach them how." — Wyatt citing Wordsworth (51:35)

7. Key Timestamps

• 00:51-02:59 – Personal backgrounds and how the project began
• 03:22-06:35 – Why revisit auteur theory
• 08:56-11:57 – Defining auteur and its role in film studies
• 14:42-16:50 – Book structure, approach, and the significance of starting with postwar movements
• 19:18-22:13 – The defining traits of neorealism and transnational influence
• 24:13-25:09 – Forerunners and the grammar of film
• 26:19-28:28 – Genre’s relationship to auteurism, especially comedy and the western
• 29:05-34:30 – Grandmasters: Welles, Hitchcock, Kubrick; the arc of Welles’ career; nostalgia and form
• 38:59-43:16 – Form, performance, and emotion in Ozu; transcendental style
• 44:03-48:17 – Women auteurs, the (a) female gaze, and a shift towards TV
• 48:46-51:35 – Reflections on auteurism and the scholar’s love affair with their subjects

Summary Author’s Note:
This episode is a masterclass in the history, theory, and practice of film auteurism. Kolker and Wyatt’s exchange is rich with personal insight, rigorous analysis, and cultural scope, offering both practical and philosophical perspectives for students, teachers, and cinephiles. Their book — and this conversation — reminds us why the director-as-author remains a central, if contested, figure in how we watch, interpret, and love movies.