Sônia Braga reacted in a beautiful way to the draft I sent her, so we just made the film ["Aquarius"] as I had written it. Emilie [Lesclaux], my wife and producer, told me, "This is not a two-hour film. This is going to be longer." And I said, "Well, let's try and make it work, whatever length it is."

I think the relationship [in Aquarius] with her nephew shows that she's not nostalgic. She just wants to preserve what is important to her - her records, her books, even some furniture. She doesn't want to leave that house because it is her home. That is where her kids were born. After moving so much in my life, I was touched by Clara's need to stay in that apartment. I love her life, and that may be why I connected to her so strongly. We are the most alike when we are fighting for our rights.

I think of a movie as a human body. You can feel the pump of the heart and the blood going through the veins when you watch that scene.

I'm not saying that we need more stories about people of a certain age, we just need more great stories about people.

If you take away money, if you take away the houses and things, who are we really? What is love really about? What is it to love each other? Why do we stay together, and why do all the kids split? All these questions I have really deep inside of me.

I'm scared of rehearsals, I'm scared of doing all this because I don't feel like I'm an actress.

I just hope the film [Aquarius] doesn't feel overly nostalgic because too much nostalgia for me leads to depression. I think Clara is very pragmatic.