Page "Formalist film theory" Paragraph 14

A perfect example of formalist criticism of auteur style would be the work of Alfred Hitchcock.

Hitchcock primarily made thrillers, which, according to the Cahiers du cinema crowd, were popular with the public but were dismissed by the critics and the award ceremonies, although Hitchcock's Rebecca won the Oscar for Best Picture at the 1940 Academy Awards.

Though he never won the Oscar for directing, he was nominated five times in the category.

Truffaut and his colleagues argued that Hitchcock had a style as distinct as that of Flaubert or Van Gogh: the virtuoso editing, the lyrical camera movements, the droll humour.

He also had " Hitchcockian " themes: the wrong man falsely accused, violence erupting at the times it was least expected, the cool blonde.

Now, Hitchcock is more or less universally lauded, his films dissected shot-by-shot, his work celebrated as being that of a master.

And the study of this style, his variations, and obsessions all fall quite neatly under the umbrella of formalist film theory.