Introduction

This chapter defines the scope of the Eric Rohmer”s Film Theory monograph. It analyses the writings published by Eric Rohmer as a film critic (particularly, but not exclusively, between 1948 and 1953), as well as a smaller selection of reviews (primarily from the same period) by fellow critics, who would eventually establish the politique des auteurs with him in 1954 - Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette, François Truffaut. The book sets out to illustrate how Rohmer's influence on his younger colleagues and, more precisely, Rohmer's rejection of Sartre's teaching in favour of older philosophies and aesthetics (specifically Kant's) in 1950, were key factors in the eventual formation of the politique des auteurs.