By trying to control everything we become very neurotic, more and more desperate. It's a huge tragic thing.

A film based on a jolly good John Grisham book is fine, but I like to get a bit under the skin

I must explore desert ground and see what can grow. But there are limits. I know in my heart what I would never do.

Ever since I was a small child, Ive had this feeling - its in my nature, and so its not even pretentious - that if everyones going one way, I will go the other, just by some kind of spirit of defiance.

When I moved to Paris in the '70s, there wasn't very much going on in film in England. So when I started doing French films, there was a natural movement toward the kind of films I wanted to do. It wasn't the reason I came, but it so happened that I stepped into a time and place that actually corresponded to what I wanted. That sometimes happens in life. And it was rather beautiful.

Quite often in life, when a tragic event arrives it becomes a springboard for mirroring all other things in one's life that one hasn't come to terms with.

You can never really judge your work because once it's done, it's done.