“So I used formal techniques to make the film more perceptive emotionally.”

I can’t see any reason why a film shouldn’t be stylized and visually beautiful. I don’t think a beautiful set is pretentious.

For some reason the more time that elapses after the film opens, the more favorable the reviews become.

We should all die with a sharp, brusque heart attack. My father was lucky like that.

There cannot be any communication except through form. If there is no form, you cannot create emotion in the spectator.

When I was 12 I made some little films with my friends. I tried to make gangster films, like Fantomas, but I remember being very disappointed with them.

It was repugnant, but it was the only way to communicate.

A viewer as opposed to a filmmaker might see a film differently. But I’m extremely comfortable with my style.

When I was twelve, the passage from silent film to the talkies had an impact on me-I still watch silent films.

I saw part of The Singing Detective on TV in New York. I said, Something is going on here.

My films seem to be better understood and better received by the monthly publications

For me an unfavorable initial reaction happens fairly often.

. On television the first reactions are usually unfavorable.

I don’t think that there is any such thing as an old film; you don’t say, ‘I read an old book by Flaubert,’ or ‘I saw an old play by Moliere.’

They weren’t frightening at all. I’m sure they’d be very funny now.

I never had any special appetite for filmmaking, but you have to make a living and it is miraculous to earn a living working in film.

I am never driven. Every film Ive made has been an assignment.