Quotes

"I am a Communist, certainly, but that doesn't mean I have to make films about the wheat harvest." (1971 interview with Roger Ebert)

Nous vivons une époque où les pizzas arrivent plus vite que la police.

• We live in an era where pizzas show up faster than the police.

There is no new wave, only the sea.

[on his movie Ophélia (1963)] I saw it recently and it was still execrable.

[on divorcing Stéphane Audran] I found myself becoming more interested in her as an actress than a wife.

I have always been fascinated by smiling killers.

I saw 'Snow 'White' at least 10 times between 1937 and 1940 and I think it influenced my work, a little. It was a good horror film. The death of the witch was the best thing Disney ever did.

I'm not at all interested in who-done-its. If you conceal a character's guilt, you imply that his guilt is the most important thing about him. I want the audience to know who the murderer is, so that we can consider his personality.

[2003 interview, asked for his opinion on the French film industry] I think that we should distinguish between making films and the industry. A number of serious problems are afflicting the industry and some people have behaved quite appallingly. The majority of producers was damaged. As for the artistic quality of our films, I believe that over the last five years we have seen the emergence of some interesting personalities.