ABSTRACT
In commercial cinema, screenwriters do not enjoy high status, often finding their work changed significantly in the production process, and it is the director's name which appears most prominently in the film's credits. This chapter focuses on Samuel Beckett's authorship, the film's sources and influences, and the ways it might be read by audiences. Auteurist interpretations of Film have involved discerning its Beckettian qualities, by reference to the written material in Beckett's screenplay and notes, and by comparison between the film and his works in other media, particularly theatre and television. While Film must be by Beckett in some sense, the film medium is not perhaps 'Beckettian' because it is not conducive to Beckett's mode of authorship. Since it is the notion of subjective being which Beckett regarded as Film's subject, the relationship between visual technologies and identity is obviously important both for investigating authorship and for interpreting Film.
