Isaiah Berlin's famous division of writers into two categories— foxes, or those who know many things, and hedgehogs, or those who know one important thing— does not apply to film directors. Good directors know many things— about editing, acting, production design, cinematography, writing, music, sound technique, finance and much more— and great or “auteur” directors know all of these things in addition to one important thing. They have a personal vision of life that transcends and yet unifies the material elements of their art, and that develops over the period of their creativity.

I believe that John Schlesinger was one such director. Fox-like, he understood all aspects of filmmaking. Billy Williams, the great British cinematographer who directed the photography for Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), described Schlesinger as the “most complete” director he ever worked with (Sunday Bloody Sunday, DVD Interview). As the many stories of people who worked with Schlesinger attest, his ideas about the screenplay, art direction, music, cinematography and acting were so uncompromising, abundant, well-integrated and specific that, from the beginning of his career, they led often to conflicts with other artists and technicians on and off the set. When Schlesinger had full control over the making of his films, and when all the other things necessary to putting together a film worked in his favor, he was capable of creating brilliant art.

This is because Schlesinger was also a hedgehog. He knew one important thing: the importance of survival, of just getting through the day and of trying to make the best of what one has. This conviction ran deep in his family background, and it informs all of his films. He pursued it as a philosophical problem and proposition in the context of modern, urban life. When Schlesinger tried to engage the past directly, as in Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), which is set in rural Victorian England, he was less successful in communicating this theme because it was something he understood in modern, urban terms. “I think that what makes John's films so wonderful is that he has always been so in tune with life,” said Glenda Jackson (Mann 2005, 345).