The destination between reality and fiction may not be as discernible as one might think. The Cinema Verité may not be the most real depiction of life. And by confining production options, one may achieve the ultimate in freedom as a filmmaker. These are a few thoughts that lead me to this premise. Nevertheless, if there is to be truth any truth found in cinema, it is inevitable for the off screen personas of directors to leak into their work. Sometimes this occurs consciously, while at other times, it is on an unconscious level.

I am not suggesting that Speilberg is aware of the Father complex that is apparent in most, if not all of his films. Nor am I suggesting that Hitchcock is unaware of the Mother complex that materializes in most of his pictures. I am merely suggesting that at some point, part of the director’s off screen persona will manifest itself on screen. That is to say, whenever we see a narrative on screen, at the same time we are seeing a documentary on the making of that narrative along with a behind the scenes with the director in their dicisions on misé-en-scene among other filmic choices.

I have chose Jean-Luc Godard and Werner Herzog as my case studies. To those who know these dircetors it should be fairly obvious why. They both have a knack for the eccentric, and they both hold themselves in high regard.

In the case of Godard I decieded you use his film Contempt along with some pieces of correspondence between him and François Truffaut. For Herzog I went ahead and transcribed a Workshop, conducted in 1979, by Roger Ebert, his film Fitzcarraldo, and his relationship with Bruno S. among other things as my evidence. Hopefully, you all will be in agreement with me in regards to the truth in cinema being found within the persona of the director by the time you are finished.

Concerning site navigation, just click on the director's name to pull up their page and on Herzog's page I included two extra links that appear at the top of the page, these links are underlined as well.