In order to be universal, you have to be rooted in your own culture.

I would be too selfish if I said everyone should see my movies more than once. To say that would mean I'm just marketing my work!

Film is very much a universal and common voice, and we can't limit it to one particular culture.

I think that in life, being is nothing but an illusion. If we acknowledge that and accept the fact that we are in between states, that we are moving, and this movement is the nature of our lives, and we stop having aspirations for being in a definite state, we know life better and are able to enjoy it better.

What I am trying to say is that it is not without any value. The value of copies is that they can direct us towards the original. I was recently at the Louvre Museum and I was filming people who were viewing the Mona Lisa. I noticed the number of ordinary people, astonished, mouths agape, standing still for long stretches looking at the work, and I wondered, "Where does this come from? Are these people all art connoisseurs?" They are like me; through the years, we've seen this work in our schoolbooks or art history books, but when we stand before the original, we hold our breath.

I don't like reverse-angle shots - I find them very fake and very untruthful to the viewer.

I didn't just see myself as a film director here [in Life And Nothing More], but also as an observer of people who had been condemned to death.