Alain Resnais

“For me, style is not an embellishment. It is a way of saying something.”

“To make a film is to embark on a journey, with all the attendant risks and discoveries.”

“Chance is the mistress of all things. We are merely her playthings.”

“What interests me is the effect of the imagination on reality.”

“Filmmaking is a difficult and thankless occupation.”

“There is no more realism in a film than in a painting.”

“Life is a musical. What more can I say?”

“I've always had a great deal of difficulty with endings. I never know how to end a film.”

“Memory is the fabric of our identity.”

“Cinema is a language that is still being invented.”

“I don't like to explain my films. I prefer to let the audience find their own meaning.”

“I am interested in people who are not resigned to their fate.”

“A film is not a message, it's a proposition.”

“I am never sure that I am on the right level. When I am doing a scene, I am always asking myself, 'Am I doing it too symbolically? Too realistically?'”

“What I'm looking for is a self-questioning form of cinema.”

“The actor must be a poet.”