I think one of the few times I've been involved with real-life characters was the story of Marie Bonaparte. I think it's really difficult to become someone that really existed.

Opportunities are often things you haven't noticed the first time around.

I get irritated, nervous, very tense or stressed, but never bored.

I think the clothes in Belle de Jour are very important to the style of the film. Even today, it is still timeless.

It's always difficult to play a scene of physical violence because you're always afraid that you don't know your own strength and might hurt someone.

A woman has to be intelligent, have charm, a sense of humor, and be kind. It's the same qualities I require from a man.

Love is suffering. One side always loves more.

You can express a lot of things, a lot of action without speaking.

Cinema is still a very young art form with extraordinary techniques and very impressive special effects. But sometimes it seems the soul has been taken out of things.

I like all these little animals that run and eat and hide all the time. I like their faces, They seem to be scared and curious at the same time.

That's what I like about film-it can be bizarre, classic, normal, romantic. Cinema is to me the most versatile thing.

If I'm feeling outraged, grief, disbelief, frustration, sympathy, that gets channeled through me and into my pictures and hopefully transmitted to the viewer.

Trying to prioritize among things we're unlikely to do is pretty fruitless.

Marlon Brando said any guy can become an actor. It takes a real man to quit.

But quite honestly, personally, I was much more concerned - I mean, there's not much I can do about my appearance obviously other than spending four hours in hair and makeup.

What is a good performance? It lies in the hands and head of a performer... the shortest way between two people is not a straight line.

The time for your labor has been granted.

I want to be a woman of focus. I don't want to live by default, but by design.

Every man is a moon and has a side which he turns toward nobody: you have to slip around behind it if you want to see it.

"Admission" is Paul Weitz's movie. This is Karen Croner - the screenwriter's - movie. To have such a lovely role in such a beautifully written script offered to me, it's like elves made the shoes.