Random Thoughts #3: Auteurs

I give you "auteur theory"/the concept of the cinema auteur and then I give you Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet and then I ask: what is an auteur? Is it a concept that's still viable or is it a redundant one?

Okay, I know the auteur theory doesn't clearly say the director has to direct his own stories but, instead, refers to directing their "vision", but this is the general/popular interpretation of the term today: an auteur is an independent director who writes his original scripts and films them personally and exclusively.

It should be noted all of Straub's and Huillet's films are interpretations of previously written material (from German novellas to ancient tragedies) and yet they remain two of the most creative, personal and complex filmmakers in the history of cinema.

Of course, I could bring up New Criticism/Schreiber and various other things that would agree with or contradict the auteur theory, but let's leave it at that.