pt. I: What the director does. Introduction -- The director's idea -- The competent director -- The good director -- The great director -- Text interpretation -- The camera -- The actor -- pt. II: The case studies of directing. Sergei Eisenstein : the historical dialectic -- John Ford : poetry and heroism -- George Stevens : the American character : desire and conscience -- Billy Wilder : existence at stake -- Ernst Lubitsch : the life force of romance -- Elia Kazan : drama as life -- Franðcois Truffaut : celebrate the child -- Roman Polanski : the aloneness of existence -- Stanley Kubrick : the darkness of modern life -- Steven Spielberg : childhood forever -- Margarethe Von Trotta : historical life and personal life intersect -- Lukas Moodysson : empathy and its limits -- Catherine Breillat : the warfare of sexuality -- Mary Harron : celebrity and banality -- Conclusion -- Appendix: Finding the director's idea.