Is Christopher Nolan an Auteur Director

Is Christopher Nolan an Auteur Director?

To answer this question we must first look at what makes an Auteur Director, Andrew Sarris posited in 1962 that there are three things that make an Auteur Director. These are as follows;

1) The technical competence of the director - ability to organise a film with clarity and coherence.

2) The Distinguishable Personality of the Director - A Recurring signature style that runs through several of his or her films.

3) Interior Meaning - The cinematic art created from tension between a directors personality and his material. Such as a message hidden within the film such as gender equality or a political agenda etc.

It is my belief that Nolan meets these requirements, He is technically competent, has a signature style in both the visuals of the work and in the story itself and likes to put psychological disorders within his films.

Technical Competence

Starting with Technical Competence - Christopher constantly shows a technical knowledge throughout his films, using a range of camera movements such as tracking, hand held, dolly and various other shots, He uses lighting, Editing and Sound to great effect. In fact he is constantly pushing the boundaries, such as with this shot from Inception 

To capture this shot, Nolan rigged up a giant corridor on a scaffolding which rotated with a  camera on a crane arm, this meant that the camera was still whilst everything is rotating.

A majority of directors would likely have used visual effects to achieve this shot, but Nolan decided to do something unprecedented and use practical effects.




Personal Style

Nolan does have a personal style, such as he likes to start his film typically with a close up of hands.

He also is known for his non-linear style of story telling, such as in his film Memento, the entire film is told in a series of flash backs, or The Prestige where flash backs help to progress the story.
He likes to go into a characters past to let the audience understand the character and to reveal information. Such as in Memento we see Leonard Shelby as a good guy but towards the end we can see his true character.

He likes to collaborate with cast and crew from previous projects, such as his DOP Wally Pfister, Actors Michael Caine and Christian Bale. Visually his films tend to be dark and gritty, typically with a serious or solemn nature. His films are commonly thought provoking and may not end with the good guy winning or winning but still losing.

Interior Meaning

Nolans films tend to resolve around psychological disorders, Such as The following (stalking/voyeurism) , Memento (Memory Loss), Insomnia (Paranoia and Sleep Disorders) The Prestige (Obsession) Batman (Fear and Pain).

Nolan likes to delve into the mind to give his characters some push and pull, using their defects to keep them back or to propel them into the story.

Because of these three things I think Christopher Nolan is an Auteur Director, He either writes the script himself or has a close hand in the creation of it, He always gives the character a psychological impairment to help drive the story and is technically competent in all areas of the film process whether its camera, sound or editing.