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

I don't believe that one has to tear down the cinema screen in order to renew cinema. But new input and new energy are lacking. They are flowing above all into the television technologies. We must, therefore, concentrate on the CD-ROM.

English culture is highly literary-based.

I don't believe in the deplorable notion of realism in the cinema: you can over-reach it, and it becomes as false as convention.

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.

I admit that death is not just about you, it's also about the people who love you.

Works of art are never finished, just stopped.