I don't think we've seen any cinema yet. I think we've seen 100 years of illustrated text.

We all know that we're going to die, but we don't know when. That's not a blessing, that's a curse.

Cinema basically examines a personality first and the body afterward.

I think my films are very English. That certain emotional distance, interest in the world, interest in irony. These are all deeply English propositions.

What do you want art to give you? What do you want cultural experience to give you? Shouldn't it be in-depth, profound experiences which have some satisfaction and can be retained in your four senses and your imagination for the rest of your life?

Tulse Luper, who without too many confessions, in a sense, is a fictive version of me. I have to say he has far more exciting adventures, and certainly a lot of them sexual, than ever I've experienced. But in a sense, what you do with an alter ego, you give them all sorts of permissions and licences which you know you'll never be able to embrace in your real life.

Americans don't understand what metaphor in cinema is about. They're extremely good at making straightforward, linear narrative movies, which entertain superbly. But they very rarely do anything else.