Some films are pure entertainment of course, but what interests me and what I want to do are projects that really make you think, that move you, that will bring you something that will stay with you for a while. I think films are essential to the intellectual awakening of people.
Audrey Tautou
In France we have a law which doesn't allow the press to publish a photo that you didn't approve. It lets the paparazzi take the picture, but if they publish this picture, you have the choice to sue the newspaper. So me, I always sued them.
When I was a teenager, I thought nothing would ever happen to me because my childhood was so normal. I had this complex of normality.
I keep my wishes and dreams secret, like a child.
When I was a little girl, I loved monkeys. I wanted to be a primatologist. I went to the careers office to ask how. Because nobody could give me a good answer, I opted for acting.
Art - be it painting, sculpture, music - they are all creations, they are creative acts. I consider a film, with everything that is involved in it, an art.
I would like to work with people whose films I really like: Walter Salles, Woody Allen, Julio Medem.
I don't know where I'm going to be in three years. Because I have the feeling that the future is so full of possibilities, to stop being an actress, to do something else... for me, the future is just a huge bunch of discoveries.
I wouldn't mind being in an American film for a laugh, but I certainly don't want to be in Thingy Blah Blah 3, if you know what I mean.
Amelie' was a very precise, a very composed performance - ultra-defined, down to the tips of her fingernails, the ends of her hair.
It might seem paradoxical given my profession, but I'm not someone who likes to be in the limelight.
I like the light that comes off metal shutters at siesta time in the summer, having a break from driving in the shops at motorway services, the odour of petrol at petrol stations, rolling down little slopes. I hate it when you tread in a puddle and the water soaks your socks.
I think if I was less exigent with myself, maybe I would be more productive, because I would put less pressure on my shoulders.
I never want to do the same things twice. I like surprises.
Fame is more powerful than talent.
I've received some English-speaking scripts, but I was not interested in them.
I can be maternal with my friends.
It's difficult to feel that people are looking at you in the street. I don't like the fuss.
What was weird for me after 'Amelie' was how people look at you. It moves all your relationships and sometimes even your intimate ones, and you don't understand why suddenly everything around you changes, because you are exactly the same person.
To have a personal life is the minimum freedom you have to give to a human being.
After each experience, you grow up, you get enriched with something, and you don't know how you're going to be in six months, you don't know what you're going to want, what you're going to need.
I'm not sure I'm quite ready to have someone be a prospector of jobs for me, because I believe there's some kind of destiny involved with meeting people... some things are just meant to happen.
People in France are very intrusive when they recognize you. In New York, they are very polite, with quick words, so it's great.
I've never really had a relationship with Hollywood. I've never had a desire to work there.
I understand that we cannot make other people happy when they are unhappy.
I would love to occasionally do English-speaking films, but the script is as important for me as the director.
I'm not ready to do any compromises for my work.
Because I don't do five films a year, people maybe think that acting is not essential to my life. But if I worked any more than I do, I'd have no personal life.
The Da Vinci Code' was a great experience and I was lucky to be chosen, but I don't like the pressure that goes with all these big things. I don't want to be any more famous at all.
I feel very French and I need my life here; I need all my friends and family.
I started off in this dreadful, vulgar film called 'The Libertine.' I was just learning. I needed the money.
I know what I'm worth as an actress: not the best in the world, but not bad either.
It was very difficult to go from relative anonymity to such huge success in such a short space of time.
I am not super-attached to my career.
I am always surprised to be chosen by a director for a role because I never understand why they like me.
When you look at the comedies that are out there, 99 per cent of the time, men are the heroes. It's often thought that a woman can't be funny, that women are supposed to be sexy, not funny.
I have several plan Bs: I want to become a sailor; I like to draw; I would love to learn many things, but I don't have time.
I like when an image could be just one of several others which would create a story. That you can imagine who are those people or what would happen before, what's going to be next; I like when there's a past and a future that we can imagine when we see photos.
I think for everybody celebrity, fame, is a dream. People see it as a blessing.
I think that when you have that really strong desire to work with someone it's because, instinctively, you feel you have a certain kinship.
In certain environments young adults can't choose their lives because of family pressure. In the bourgeoisie there is still a sense you will marry within that milieu.
I don't want to live in Los Angeles. The city depresses me! It is too flat. There are too many cars.
You are supposed to have a dream of walking the red carpet. But I'm really not like that. Because fame is... I don't think it is something interesting or precious.
