Purely cinematic film ... actually the purest expression of a cinematic idea.

I have always preferred the reflection of the life to life itself.

The most beautiful thing I have ever seen in a movie theatre is to go down to the front and turn around, and look at all the uplifted faces, the light from the screen reflected upon them.

When humor can be made to alternate with melancholy, one has a success, but when the same things are funny and melancholic at the same time, it's just wonderful.

Life has more imagination than we do.

What switched me to films was the flood of American pictures into Paris after the Liberation.

All film directors, whether famous or obscure, regard themselves as misunderstood or underrated. Because of that, they all lie. They're obliged to overstate their own importance.