Film is the manipulative medium par excellence. When you think back on the history of film and the 20th century, you see the propaganda that's been made. So there are moral demands on the director to treat the spectators as seriously as he or she takes himself and not to see them merely as victims that can be manipulated to whatever ends they have.

It became a gamble to myself whether I was able to do the exact same film ["Funny Games"]under very different circumstances.

At its best, film should be like a ski jump. It should give the viewer the option of taking flight, while the act of jumping is left up to him.

Classicism becomes avant-garde when everyone else is doing their utmost to develop new stylistic forms. I think it's healthy to return to classical forms.

I'm far more relaxed with German. I'm a control freak. I like to know exactly who's saying and doing what.

I try to get closer to reality, to get close to the contradictions. The cinema world can be a real world rather than a dream world.

It's a disease of critics that once they've labeled someone, it's very hard to change their perspective. It's laziness.