I accept all interpretations of my films. The only reality is before the camera. Each film I make is kind of a return to poetry for me, or at least an attempt to create a poem.
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCII was seduced by the nouvelle vague, because it was really reinventing everything. And the Italian cinema that one would see in the theaters in the late ’50s, early ’60s was Italian comedy, Italian style, which, to me, was like the end of neo-realism.
More Bernardo Bertolucci Quotes
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What I was talking about was, of course, very autobiographical – ’68 was the moment when all the young people were incredibly excited, because when we were going to sleep, we knew we would wake up not tomorrow, but in the future.
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI -
I think cinema all over the world was influenced by it, which was Italy finding its freedom at the end of fascism, the end of the Nazi invasion. It was a kind of incredible energy. Then, late ’50s, early ’60s, the neo-realism lost its great energy and became comedy.
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI -
A dolly move is a moral commitment.
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI -
For example, Jewish directors coming from Germany or Austria and enriching Hollywood. In 15, 20 years, Hollywood became imperialistic. Cinema goes ahead when it is marriaged by other culture. Otherwise, it turns on itself.
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI -
I left the ending ambiguous, because that is the way life is.
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI -
If New York is the Big Apple, tonight Hollywood is the Big Nipple.
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI -
I think that I used to love Hollywood movies. I remember great phases and moments. But, unfortunately, now is not the moment.
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI -
Having no children had been a kind of choice up to the moment when, from a choice, it became a sadness.
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI -
Sometimes I think that I understand my movies after I make them. Really. I go very often off of instinct.
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI -
Pornography is not in the hands of the child who discovers his sexuality by masturbating, but in the heart of the adult who slaps him.
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI -
Sometimes you are in sync with the times, sometimes you are in advance, sometimes you are late.
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI -
I like to be in a huis clos, as the French say – in one place. It’s something that in general can create a bit of claustrophobia. But for me, claustrophobia becomes almost immediately claustrophilia. I love it!
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI -
A name? Oh, Jesus Christ. Ah, God, I’ve been called by a million names all my life. I don’t want a name. I’m better off with a grunt or a groan for a name.
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI -
I’m no longer interested in making political films. There’s something old-fashioned about them.
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI -
Commuting in a wheelchair is not easy. I live in a very old part of Rome. These cobbles everywhere… terrible! In London, it is the same. Every pavement is uneven.
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI








