The parts I've been most successful in are the ones I've desperately, desperately wanted.

I can't move back to England. My home is in France now. I'd love to but I can't. My family's all there now.

Successful films are very dangerous things.

As a younger actor you want to be approved of, you want to gain respect, be admired. All of those things. To say: 'This is me playing this character. And aren't I fantastic!' I don't feel that so much now.

'The English Patient' was a huge turning point in my career and my life; it became this huge thing. But the whole Oscar build-up got completely out of control; I spent more time talking about that film than I spent making it!

In fact, in many ways my mother was quite hippy-dippy, serving macrobiotic food and reading 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.'

I find it difficult to explain, but I'm quite ashamed of being an actress.