Although the assembly of the shots is responsible for the structure of the film, it does not, as is generally assumed, create its rhythm; the distinct time running through the shots makes the rhythm of the picture, and the rhythm is determined not by the length of edited pieces, but by the pressure of the time that runs through them. The pieces that 'won't edit', that can't be properly joined, are those which record a radically different kind of time

When I speak of poetry I am not thinking of it as a genre. Poetry is an awareness of the world, a particular way of relating to reality. So poetry becomes a philosophy to guide a man throughout his life.

The only condition of fighting for the right to create is faith in your own vocation, readiness to serve, and refusal to compromise.

I have to say from the outset that not all prose can be transferred to the screen.

My function is to make whoever sees my films aware of his need to love and to give his love, and aware the beauty is summoning him.

People who grow bored in their own company seem to me in danger.

For me the most interesting characters are outwardly static, but inwardly charged by an overriding passion.