Claire Denis

“'White Material' is about courage and craziness.”

“I think cinema is linked to literature by a lot of social ways. Our brains are full of literature - my brain is.”

“I didn't foresee my career. Things happen.”

“I hate family pressures and family responsibilities. I'm more comfortable as a stranger. I always imagined I could just live in a hotel. I'm afraid of family.”

“Sometimes I feel like John Wayne.”

“In Kurosawa's films, the tragedy is that this strong man was crushed by corruption or mistrust at the end.”

“Because TV is mostly close up, it has to be fast. And because it has to be fast, you don't have time to explain completely, by a sequence shot, what's happening between people. So instead of experiencing what's happening, say, when a couple is dancing, dialogue is used to explain.”

“I've experienced love and ambition and desire in my life, but never in the same way as in a family.”

“The only thing I find interesting is self-interest.”

“Sometimes bleak is good. Sometimes bleak is necessary. Some part of life is always bleak.”

“My grandfather died when I was 12, but I remember the sorrow of my mother. Even now, she's an old lady, but when she speaks about her father, she looks young. A love like that is undefeated, you know?”

“I've heard it said many times, 'Let's work on the look of the film,' but that doesn't work with me.”

“Growing up outside your own country makes you feel that you don't belong when you return, so you feel free to make friends with whomever you like.”

“I long to make films. I'm dying to be inside the next film. I always hope there will be another film.”

“I think working as an assistant was a part of knowing people who like cinema, and to learn from a movie, you have to watch it.”

“I don't want to be mysterious.”

“I can't imagine a society with absolutely no solidarity. For me, it's a nightmare. And I don't want to live in a place like that.”

“I have no relationship to the French bourgeoisie. I don't like connecting with them.”

“I'm not a tacky person, I think.”

“We don't all look alike - some people think they're tough, some people think they're fragile - but in the end, we share a lot.”