Tarkovsky for me is the greatest [director], the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream.

When we experience a film, we consciously prime ourselves for illusion. Putting aside will and intellect, we make way for it in our imagination. The sequence of pictures plays directly on our feelings. Music works in the same fashion; I would say that there is no art form that has so much in common with film as music. Both affect our emotions directly, not via the intellect. And film is mainly rhythm; it is inhalation and exhalation in continuous sequence.

Here, in my solitude, I have the feeling that I contain too much humanity.

First, I write down all I know about the story, at length and in detail. Then I sink the iceberg and let some of it float up just a little.

I don't watch my own films very often. I become so jittery and ready to cry... and miserable. I think it's awful.

Everything is worth precisely as much as a belch, the difference being that a belch is more satisfying.

We make each other alive; it doesn’t make a difference if it hurts.