What makes Christopher Nolan

an Auteur?

What is an Auteur?

An auteur is a filmmaker whose style and practice is distinctive which creates a signature auteur status for themselves. It is also a filmmaker who has a personal, signature style and keeps creative control over his or her work.

Recurring Themes/CharactersChristopher Nolan uses mainly dark and fantasy themes that he creates in his own time. He writes and directs all of his films that he has done which definitely makes him an auteur because Christopher Nolan has a huge creative impact on the finished product.

Christopher Nolan enjoys using the same cast in his films for example he has used Ann Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar, also he has used Tom Hardy in Inception and The Dark Knight Rises and also Michael Cain and Christian Bale in The Dark Knight trilogy and The Prestige.

Visual Style: Non-Linear StorytellingChristopher Nolan is best known for his non-linear storytelling and this is best known in Memento. Christopher Nolan has multiple story threads happening all at once and Memento is an example of this. Also The Prestige is split into two stories and they focus on Hugh Jackman’s character and then focus on Christian Bale’s character.

In Memento the opening sequence is also the last scene played backwards.Batman Begins he uses flashbacks to Bruce Wayne's childhoodThe Prestige is that the first scene is also the last scene of the film.The Dark Knight he uses the flashback to the robbery mentioned at the end of Batman Begins.

Visual Style: Hero or Antihero?In many of Nolan’s films, a main character starts off with redeeming qualities only to be shown as having evil qualities. These characters can be the protagonist or someone who is at first assisting the protagonist. In The Prestige Hugh Jackman’s character who plays the victims role when Christian Bale’s character causes he death of his wide. In the end of the movie Jackman’s obsession of revenge ends of making as much of a villain. In The Dark Knight Harvey Dent was Gotham’s hero until he lost the love of his life and the Batman saves him instead of Rachael and Dent turns evil and his character changes into Two Face. Finally in The Dark Knight Rises Miranda Tate is the good person as she helps Bruce Wayne but in the end of the film finds out she is evil seeking revenge for her fathers death in Batman Begins.

Visual Style: A character’s Perspective

In Christopher Nolan’s films he likes to use the characters perspective to make the audience “see” what the character’s are seeing without being the character. This takes careful thought of where to place the camera. He uses this especially when the scene is focusing on a character or dialogue. This is a clever way for his stories to drive forward as it gives a first person storytelling view rather than a third person view.In Inception, the vertigo-inducing fight sequence in the twisting hotel room is shot from behind the character Arthur. In The Prestige, the camera follows behind Angier as he performs onstage, showing his perspective as he looks out at a crowd.

Christopher Nolan uses the contrast of light and dark to show character growth/decay and exploration. In Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne uses the flashlight to venture into the batcave for the very first time to face his fears. In Inception, Nolan uses a ceiling of lights in the first and last scene of the movie which helps the audience to make the connection between future and past sequences. Finally in The Prestige, it is a field of light bulbs free of wires that allows Angier to experience amazement from something real, not an illusion.

Visual Style: Shining Light

Creative controlChristopher Nolan has a lot of creative control in all of his films. He writes the all of his films and his co-writer is his own brother Jonathan Nolan. This is very important to an auteur because to be an auteur they need to have a strong impact on the creativity for the film and Christopher Nolan does just that.

Crew

Christopher Nolan has used the same editor for all of his films apart from Memento. The editor is called Lee Smith. Nolan also uses Wally Pfister as his cinematographer in all of the feature films he has made. Nolan again has used the same production designer for many of his films and his name is Nathan Crowley.

This is very important for a director to have crew he can trust with his vision and they clearly have the same vision for Nolan to want the same people in multiple films.

Case Study: The Dark Knight TrilogyChristopher Nolan is most famous for his portrayal of The Dark Knight trilogy. But in his previous films he has left his mark heavily on the filmic world, through his intense and deep storytelling and his direction for his vision of the finished product.

People consider Christopher Nolan bringing back Batman as the iconic anti-hero and explores the character deeper than he ever has been.

Case Study: The Dark Knight Trilogy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvDi-upowQs

Case Study: The Dark Knight Trilogy Analysis of Clip

In this trailer it shows the anti hero Batman saving Gotham City from a nuclear bomb that is about to go off. The first style Nolan uses is that so called hero Miranda is a villain to seek revenge for the death of her father. You don’t find this out till the end of the movie when she betrays Bruce Wayne. Also Nolan uses a quick flashback to Commissioner Gordon putting his jacket around the young Bruce Wayne that is also shown in Batman Begins. This shows the audience that this could be the last heroic act Batman does. When Batman and Commissioner Gordon are talking just before he flies off, Christopher Nolan places the camera in particular places to make the audience feel like they are part of the characters perspective and this is important again for this moment because it is an important scene within the trilogy because it is the ending of the franchise.

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