• Why is the concept of mise-en-scene so important to the development of auteur criticism?

Initially ignored from the critical discourse, films like La Regle Du Jeu, Les Dames Du Bois De Boulogne and Orson Welles’s body of work where clear examples of what film theorist Alexandre Astruc would have called the age of “la camera-stylo” (camera-pen). He was among the first to theorised that cinema became a form of expression as compelling as painting and literature: A new visual language which can be flexible and versatile as much as the written words. A filmmaker can express, or as Astruc would it put, “write” his thoughts however abstract they may be through the use of the camera. Lighting, costumes, use of colour, camera angles, props, décor, framing, make-up and hairstyle and even the actors’ performance became malleable elements to determine the director’s vision. These elements and their interactions are what film critics at Cahiers Du Cinema called “mise-en-scene”.
The mise-en-scene is e terminology which finds its origin in theatre and means “put on stage.” In cinema, it usually also encapsulates some elements of post-production as editing, sound and music. The director has the last word on every aspect of the film, from the way the characters are positioned in the screen, the way the camera draws attention to small details, or intentionally avoid that or even on the length of the shot.
Critics from Cahiers Du Cinema as Truffaut, Rivette, Godard and Rohmer (Who all became active and prolific members of the Nouvelle Vague) used the mise-en-scene as a way to look at films more intimately. They re-evaluated more popular movies which often were overlooked by the critics and diminished as formulaic and low-brow. Their idea of mise-en-scene was fundamental to determine the director authorship and find exciting glimpses of individuality within Hollywood Studio films. Westerns, melodramas and romantic comedies deserved the same critical attention of what was considered high art. Studio directors as Howard Hawks, Douglas Sirk and especially Nicholas Ray managed to have a consistent and recognisable style throughout their careers.
Ray shot Johnny Guitar in beautiful technicolour with a distinctive colour palette and compelling climax. On the surface might look like a typical western, but its feminist subtext adds layers to its visual richness. All his films share similar themes and stylistic choices which might go unnoticed if it wasn’t for this new “way of looking” developed in the 50s.
Godard was searching for “privileged moments” in films, scenes which he found memorable and he was willing to share with other like-minded cinephiles. Rivette, while reviewing Angel Face by Otto Preminger, talked about “reason d’être”, (reasons for being). As Godard, he observed the small moments, particular gestures and attitudes which made some of those films so captivating. They were both searching for the film’s essence. Mise-en-scene became a way of seeing as well as a way the director dispose of objects and people. Those moments required an active close observation of films. The individual and unique way each director chooses to capture that cinematic essence is what they call authorship. “A subtlety of style, one that does not call attention to itself.”