If you make a film about a pig farmer in Wales and you are a huge hit as the pig farmer's wife, the next thing is you'll be asked to do a film about a sheep farmer in Scotland.

It takes a long time to appreciate one's parents.

The Cannes film festival is about big-budget films but also remarkable films made in different political regimes by film-makers with little resources.

I tend to do things that I'm very frightened of. That's what I do.

French culture takes ageing very seriously. There's much less ageism than in Anglo-Saxon countries.

I think people do work too much. I've never been able to understand the whole 'make hay while the sun shines' thing. Either I want to work or I don't want to work.

If you make a film about a pig farmer in Wales and you are a huge hit as the pig farmer's wife, the next thing is you'll be asked to do a film about a sheep farmer in Scotland.