...[She] felt as if she were both a stranger to herself and more herself than she'd ever been.

...[She] felt as if she were both a stranger to herself and more herself than she'd ever been.

[The director's idea for the film was:] A young American or English girl goes to Tuscany to visit English expatriates. She is on a mission to lose her virginity. That's a mission easily accomplished, if that's the only mission. The story had to be more complicated than that. Because there is so little happening dramatically, there had to be something to keep you curious.

Painting keeps me occupied in those moments when travel can be aimless and even disorienting. Mainly it is a way to register at least some of the new impressions of a foreign place, when its thrilling barrage can sometimes overwhelm you.

There are aspects of love that I once undervalued. Kindness. Having a sort of honor when love is on the table.

When a person you love moves by you with flat eyes that will not see you, it is a shock to believe it.

I first travelled to Africa at the end of 1996 and was immediately captivated. I had planned on a three-week trip, and I ended up staying two months.