Auteur
Etymology
French "auteur" (author), from Latin "auctor" (originator, author). It became a critical term through the 1950s "politique des auteurs" of the magazine Cahiers du Cinéma, championed by Truffaut; the American critic Andrew Sarris then popularized "auteur theory" in English.
noun · /oh-TUR/
A film director regarded as the primary creative author of a film, stamping it with a personal vision.
What it names
A specific claim about authorship in a collaborative art — that behind the crew of hundreds, one sensibility shapes the whole — and lets you argue over who truly "wrote" a movie.
Example
You can spot an auteur here — the same long takes and cold color turn up in every one of her films.
Related idea
An auteur is a director treated as an author with a consistent personal vision; a metteur-en-scène, in the same theory, is a competent director who ably stages material without leaving a personal signature. The distinction is between authorship and craftsmanship.