Movies

Born in the United States, but British by choice, considered a Hollywood Director, but shunned by studios and Critics alike, Director Terry Gilliam lives a life similar to the movies he directs. Originally made famous by being part of the Monty Python comedy troupe, director Terry Gilliam is not only a director of films, but also an actor, screenwriter, and animator. He has a large body of work, known not only for critical success, but also for movies that simply did not appeal to his critics and audiences.

Terry Gilliam is well known for movies such as Time Bandits, Brazil and Baron Munchausen, all three movies garnered him critical acclaim, though Baron Munchausen was a relative failure at the box office. In each of these three, Gilliam introduced viewers to fantastic worlds and situations.

Despite the fact that Baron Munchausen performed poorly in the cinemas, Gilliam continued to direct movies that were a little less fantastic, but still bearing a dream-like quality The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Again, critics were divided, yet Gilliam still managed to prove himself in the box office, as well as in film festivals.

There can be little question that Terry Gilliam is recognized as a director who prioritizes the art and message in his films. Some may even say he prioritizes them over box office success, though it cannot be said that Gilliam has never created a movie that did well in cinemas.

However, Gilliam himself states, in his prologue to the Collectors Edition of his movie, Tideland
many of you are not going to like this film. Many of you are going to love it. And then, there are many of you who arent gonna know what to think when this film finishes.

Clearly, the director himself admits to the fact that Tideland may not have general appeal, but that there would be some, or many, as he puts it, that it will still reach out to. Looking across his body of work, this seems to apply to many, if not all, the films he has directed.

The question is, is Terry Gilliam truly an auteur director In order to best answer this question, we must first quickly define what an auteur director is.

By collecting several definitions of an auteur director, we can find that they have several common traits that we may use to distinguish them from other directors. Firstly, an auteur director believes it is his role to be the author of the production, if he has not already authored the script itself. Secondly, an auteur director often creates movies with common themes that reflect his worldview, or conveys a similar message to the viewers. Lastly, auteur directors commonly have a style of filmmaking that is observable in their movies.

With this brief, but in no way incomplete, definition, we now have a standard to compare director Terry Gilliam against, to see whether he can be considered an auteur director.

First, does director Terry Gilliam consider himself the author of his production This can be a trickier question than it seems.

Let us first take a look at the films he has already directed. A quick count of his films shows that he has written, or co-written eight out of eleven films he has directed. This shows a preference for Gilliam to direct works he has at least contributed to as a writer.

More than just writing credits, however, does Terry Gilliam truly create a film wherein he is reflected in its creation In the documentary film, Lost In La Mancha, a voiceover in the beginning states Every film that Terry makes, Terry somehow manifests himself as the characters. This suggests that Gilliam puts himself, as an artist, within his work.

This leads to our second question does he create movies with common themes that reflect his worldview Do his films have a similar message to his viewers

This again takes us back to the films he has directed. A quick look at his films shows a tendency towards making movies about the fantastic. Jabberwocky is about a young cooper who attempts to kill a dragon. Time Bandits is about a young man taken on a journey through time by dwarves. Among his more recent films, The Brothers Grimm is about fairytales that come real, while The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is about imagination conquering greed.

Again, the director himself confesses, in the documentary film, Lost in La Mancha All my films have been about reality, fantasy, madness, sanity again, common themes that can be observed in all his films.

Even in films where he was not credited as a writer, we can observe these themes of fantasy and madness, reality and sanity. 12 Monkeys is the story of a man who is sent back in time to save the world from a killer virus. Throughout the movie, he battles with thoughts of whether he is truly sane and sent from the future, or a madman living in his own world of make-believe. The Brothers Grimm shows two brothers, one a believer in fantasy, the other a realist, who observe and have to struggle against fantastic beasts, situations, and magic.

Lastly, does Terry Gilliam have an observable signature style This last point in our definition requires a closer look at his films to discover if he indeed has a signature style present in his films.

For this, we must pay attention not to his themes, but how he is able to express those themes in his movies the types and selections of shots in his movies, preferred camera angles, as well as preferences in technology used in filmmaking.

Watching a Terry Gilliam film, a viewer may easily observe that many of the camera angles used in the film are uncommon. Tideland begins with a high-angle shot of what at first appears like seaweed underwater, but is then revealed to be grassland. Later in the film, many scenes are shot with the camera tiled at an angle  a Dutch angle, as it is called in filmmaking. One scene of note is one where the main characters father has just died, but she has either not realized it, or has convinced herself that it has not happened. She sits on his lap, speaking to him, and the camera is tilted at an angle, allowing the viewer the illusion of a twisted or tilted reality within the film. Gilliam continues to use the Dutch angle in similarly-themed scenes, where the protagonist is either going mad, or denying what is real.

In The Brothers Grimm, where reality meets fantasy, much of the movie is shot in normal angles, except when encountering supernatural events. And then Gilliam takes advantage of high-angle, as well as low-angle shots, often panning the shot along with the action, as when one brother was attempting to climb the tower where the Queen slept. Starting from a low angle, showing the tower to be similar to an insurmountable obstacle, the camera follows the character as he climbs over to the roof of the tower, where the camera then pans out to a high angle shot, showing how small the brother is compared to the tower, and to his surroundings. Gilliam again uses Dutch angles when the Queen tempts the other brother near the end, an effort to enhance the sense of confusion the Queen uses to seduce the other brother.

Director Terry Gilliam, by the standards set here in this paper, has displayed all the attributes of an auteur director. He involves himself as the author of his films, not only co-writing many of his films, but also having the characters in his films have a part of him within the story of the film. He presents similar themes within his films, such as that of the realistic and the fantastic, and of sanity and madness, with characters who see the world differently from everybody else. Lastly, he has a trademark style which surfaces in film after film, using unusual camera angles to convey his themes of confusion in madness, or the realization of the fantastic in a real world.

Given these facts, we can say that Terry Gilliam is indeed an auteur director.