Documentary filmmaking ruins you for real life, because you learn to be extremely attentive.

Whether you're a newspaper journalist, a lawyer, a doctor. You have to organize your thoughts.

Of course there's conscious manipulation! Everything about a movie is manipulation ... If you like it, it's an interpretation. If you don't like it, it's a lie - but everything about these movies is a distortion."

I am bad at cultural generalizations but I would venture to say that by a wide margin there is less hypocrisy about sex in France than in America.

Paris is a beautiful city to walk around in. And, you know, all the obvious things: I like the museums, I like the theater, I like the dance. And it's manageable. The food's good. I know a lot of interesting people here. I lived in Boston for 50 years or more. Wherever I am, I'm usually holed up most of the time in the editing room, and so, when I leave the editing room, even if I just take a walk, it's gorgeous. And I walk everywhere. I'm a victim of the seduction of Paris.

Making movies is an effort is an attempt to leave a trace of your existence.

I'm drawn to making movies about contemporary life. The reason I choose institutions is because they provide a limit, a boundary.