My musical knowledge is so bad it's embarrassing. When composers discuss music with someone as primitive as myself, they have to talk about it in terms of senses and emotion, rather than keys and tempo.

But I think it's quite clear in my work that my orientation isn't political or doesn't come out of modern politics.

I think that the romantic impulse is in all of us and that sometimes we live it for a short time, but it's not part of a sensible way of living. It's a heroic path and it generally ends dangerously. I treasure it in the sense that I believe it's a path of great courage. It can also be the path of the foolhardy and the compulsive.

I had this spooky psychological thing about 'The Piano' before it began, which was how everybody was going to go nuts on the set. Because a film tends to set up the way people are going to behave.

The studio system is kind of an old boys system and it's difficult for them to trust women to be capable

Only when you are relaxed can you see what's going on.

I think this is interesting, us human creatures are capable of love, and it's a very powerful emotion. It also can go awfully wrong.