I want to make it clear: it's not that I hate mainstream cinema. It's perfectly fine. There are a lot of people who need to escape, because they are in very difficult situations, so they have the right to escape from the world. But this has nothing to do with an art form.

To decide to film a movie again shot by shot, you must be masochistic to a certain degree because it is a much greater challenge.

I always seek to mobilize, to call on the imagination of the spectator. It's well-known that the images that are created by one's imagination are far stronger than any that I can show. In fact, it's an error, a widespread error in mainstream cinema, to always want to show things and to depict things.

It’s harder to write a story with just two people in a room than with 50 characters.

You'll see more violence in any television crime series than you will in my films Art is there to have a stimulating effect, if it earns its name. You have to be honest, that's the only thing.

Of course, we avoid death. To know something is inevitable is one thing. To accept, to truly feel it... that's different.

It's more enjoyable to shoot in a studio on a single location with two actors... if they are good.