Quotes

I love silent cinema but don't hold it sacred. Like any branch of film there are some very boring films alongside the masterpieces. These films are old because of the era they're from, not specifically the format they're made in. It was important not think of [The Artist (2011)] as an "old movie". It's now, it's new. But you have the benefit of this neglected format which gives you some exciting options as a storyteller.

[on receiving an Oscar nomination for The Artist (2011)] The happy ending is a matter of politeness. I asked people to watch this, so that I could do something other than a happy ending. It's a way of saying thank you to the audience because they went to something that's not so easy to see.

[on Jean-Luc Godard ] I wouldn't say he's one our best directors, he's one of the most free. He's taken a very interesting path. But I do not consider him as one of the best.

[press conference for The Search (2014) at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival] I wanted to tell this story that few people have told. It was told by journalists doing a reportage on the theme but then of course people tend to forget these very topical issues. I thought it was worthwhile to make a film on the subject and to show the human side, the emotional side of the war. It went without saying that I wasn't going to be ironic or try to be clever. I therefore tried to work on a totally different level with a more direct relationship with the characters and the storyline. At the same time I tried to keep a balance, on the one hand I wanted to respect the theme, the story, the events I was trying to show; and I wanted also to respect the cinema - it had to be a film after all - that's what I was striving to do.

[Cannes press conference for The Search (2014)] When you start looking at the Chechnya war, you wonder why people didn't make a film about it earlier. In this war you have all the ingredients of modern warfare - in the '14-18 war, 80% of soldiers died, 20% civilians; second World War it was 50/50; and now it's more like 80% of civilians who die and 20% the army - the figures have been totally reversed. Also you have the attitude of the international community which remained totally indifferent - there were hundreds of thousands of deaths - that's what we're talking about here. News, information, was totally muzzled and it was a war where the images were biased and oriented. I took an interest in this war because I produced and co-wrote a documentary on the Rwandan genocide and I met a young man called Raphaël Glucksmann, who's the son of the philosopher André Glucksmann, and he was one of the rare French intellectuals who alerted public opinion to what was happening in Chechnya at the time it occurred; so perhaps I was more aware of the issue. It became quite a personal matter for me. Also, because of my family background. People were being massacred yet the international community was indifferent - that touched me very much and I think it touches everybody.