Quotes

[on the possibility of an international career] I would like to work in Germany, and I speak a little German. Head On [Head-On (2004)] is one of my favorite movies. During a trip to Berlin I twice crossed paths with Birol Ünel, who acted in Head On. When we think of working abroad, we usually think of the United States. But working in the US often means starting from scratch. I'm not looking to work abroad at any price. I'm not sure I want Marion Cotillard's career, even though her career is certainly remarkable.

[on The Staple of News (2013)] The movie asks a big question: what is love? What does it really mean? We don't choose who we want to love, WE love! There are so many kinds of loves. There is the love between two sisters, between a father and his sister ... And there's how these love stories keep lasting or not, the evolution of feelings, and to feel this evolution takes time. So, time is very important in this movie, it's the time of a feeling and nothing can speed that along.

[on shooting House of Tolerance (2011) with Bertrand Bonello, 2011 interview] It's my favorite movie I filmed last year. The movie portrays prostitutes living in a brothel at the end of the 19th century, as the times are changing and the brothel is about to close. There are twelve girls in the film: the motherly Madame is played by Noémie Lvovsky, and Jasmine Trinca, an Italian actress who truly brings her character to life, is also in the movie, as well as Céline Sallette, a super actress and my partner in the story, and a lot of other actresses. That's how I see the film; everything turns around this axis. To compare it with Mulholland Drive (2001), there are keys that help explain different readings of the movie. For me, the key was to see that the customers were directors and producers in real life. Some scenes are even a lot like auditions.

[on working with first time directors] I like the slightly disorganized energy and enthusiasm.There are things that might not work in a film, but I like them.

I think in cinema, there is a problem with representation, because we are always talking about the same person and it's boring. Okay, we get it - it's difficult to be a middle-aged white man, having an affair - but can we talk about somebody else please? Love at First Fight (2014) does that. Actors and artists are creating the way society looks at itself, so we need to face it and take responsibility and talk from the perspective of all of the people in that society, not just the same person. Anybody can be a hero.