Claire Denis - Quotes

I had this unimaginable chance to work for Jacques Rivette. It took me many years to appreciate the New Wave: Chabrol, Truffaut, Godard, I found them sectarian. The only one who seemed absolutely incredible to me was Rivette.
Denis, Claire.

There isn't an art of living inherent in cinema, there's only music which gives the taste of a certain kind of life. Deep down I'd like to have been Eric Burdon.
Denis, Claire.

In Trouble Every Day there is this scene where Vince Gallo is looking at his wife taking a bath, and you can see pubic hair moving in the water. That's one of Stuart's (of the TINDERSTICKS) songs — on his second CD there is a song called Sea Weeds and the story is just that. I truly wrote the scene because of that song. There is a lot of criss-crossing in my films.
Denis, Claire.

I see Paris like that. I like to show the city the way it is. A lot of French films, when they show Paris, it doesn’t look the way I see it.
Denis, Claire and Nyman, Andrew (Interviewer). "An Interview with Claire Denis." in: Reverse Shot. No. 25, 2009. (English).

When I go to New York, I’m not in the real New York: I’m in an imaginary place from photos and films. The minimum a film can do is to leave the trace of a city or a place, or the way that people live. I always keep that in mind when I make a film.
Denis, Claire and Nyman, Andrew (Interviewer). "An Interview with Claire Denis." in: Reverse Shot. No. 25, 2009. (English).

Yes. They’re all wet, they want to go home, but also they don’t because they’re all very sad.
Denis, Claire and Nyman, Andrew (Interviewer). "An Interview with Claire Denis." in: Reverse Shot. No. 25, 2009. (English).

I’m an anxious person. What I like best is to smoke cigarettes and listen to music.
Denis, Claire and Nyman, Andrew (Interviewer). "An Interview with Claire Denis." in: Reverse Shot. No. 25, 2009. (English).

RS: Isaach De Bankolé is another actor you’ve worked with before, and we talked about Agnès Godard and Stuart Staples . . . do you take comfort in having these frequent collaborators? CD: It’s not always easy to work with them, because I’m always afraid to hurt them. When you know somebody you can’t use them as tools. They inspire me.
Denis, Claire and Nyman, Andrew (Interviewer). "An Interview with Claire Denis." in: Reverse Shot. No. 25, 2009. (English).

No, my fear was that I'd be fulfilled with my love for his film and therefore not create a real relationship with myfilm. I realized this was a little bit stupid, because the minute I was in the film and with my characters and actors, I can't say I forgot Ozu, but on the other hand I was concerned by that story, those characters.
Denis, Claire and Robert Davis (Interviewer). "Interview: Claire Denis on 35 Shots of Rum." in: Daily Plastic. March 10, 2009. (English).

In a way I was helped by the fact that I was sort of growing as a stranger in France.
Denis, Claire and Robert Davis (Interviewer). "Interview: Claire Denis on 35 Shots of Rum." in: Daily Plastic. March 10, 2009. (English).

Yeah. Because in a way, if I consider the real story my mother and my grandfather— Because they were a sort of couple...And in their rituals there was a real split organization between work and being at home, you know?
Denis, Claire and Robert Davis (Interviewer). "Interview: Claire Denis on 35 Shots of Rum." in: Daily Plastic. March 10, 2009. (English).

And I think this is also true for Ozu. People's jobs are not just a decoration in the film...and it's very important for the character that the audience is informed of the kind of job. And very often in Ozu's films the problems that occur during work time might reflect on private life at home, you know?
Denis, Claire and Robert Davis (Interviewer). "Interview: Claire Denis on 35 Shots of Rum." in: Daily Plastic. March 10, 2009. (English).

I think it was always in my mind that being a father, especially of one child that he will take care of on his own, makes her in his mind in more danger than if he has a wife and a few children. The danger is that he's the only one to protect her...
Denis, Claire and Robert Davis (Interviewer). "Interview: Claire Denis on 35 Shots of Rum." in: Daily Plastic. March 10, 2009. (English).

So I thought, if this is sort of two or three scenes to express that, it's no good, because in life sometimes things happen like that so I wanted to make it like [snap] in one moment.
Denis, Claire and Robert Davis (Interviewer). "Interview: Claire Denis on 35 Shots of Rum." in: Daily Plastic. March 10, 2009. (English).

No no no no, of course. He is really [pause] in love, I think. I don't think she is sure she's in love with him, but that's another story.
Denis, Claire and Robert Davis (Interviewer). "Interview: Claire Denis on 35 Shots of Rum." in: Daily Plastic. March 10, 2009. (English).

What was radical for me was that the producer of L'Intrus, who was also a great supporter of the film, set me free forL'Intrus. We had very little money so he gave me freedom with no money. Then he died ...
Lee, Kevin. "Spectacularly intimate: an interview with Claire Denis." in: Mubi.com April 2009. (English).

My mother is getting older, and if i made it when she's not here anymore it would have been really sad, but to have it made with her alive makes it more cheerful - melancholy yet cheerful.
Lee, Kevin. "Spectacularly intimate: an interview with Claire Denis." in: Mubi.com April 2009. (English).

To be working on a project like this, about family rituals, maybe it's immodest in a sense, even pretentious, to believe that I can express something that other people can understand through those little rituals. Because it was clear to me watching Ozu. Each time it's clear to me that he has connected the industry of cinema with the private moment.
Lee, Kevin. "Spectacularly intimate: an interview with Claire Denis." in: Mubi.com April 2009. (English).

And because I knew a little about train drivers - I read a book about their solitude - being alone along those tracks, it's very hypnotizing. I realized when I was doing location scouting, it leads to introspection. So if you're in good shape, it's okay, but if you're a little depressive, you suffer. It's a sort of an introspective machine. It's a kind of job that makes you alone in a group.
Lee, Kevin. "Spectacularly intimate: an interview with Claire Denis." in: Mubi.com April 2009. (English).

That scene to me is the emotional heart of the movie, because it goes deep into the heart of this feeling of isolation, even though you have all the major characters together in one space, and they're dancing and enjoying themselves. It gets lonelier and lonelier.Gregoire Colin tries to kiss Nicole Doque and it doesn't work. And Alex Descas dances with that other woman and leaves his neighbor behind. And then you pick a great song, "Nightshift" by the Commodores.
Lee, Kevin. "Spectacularly intimate: an interview with Claire Denis." in: Mubi.com April 2009. (English).

The time of today is a time where what was unspoken in the time of Ozu is now spoken,and overspoken.
Lee, Kevin. "Spectacularly intimate: an interview with Claire Denis." in: Mubi.com April 2009. (English).

The subject of so many films is the protection of the victim, and I think, I don't give a damn about those things. It's not the job of films to nurse people. With what's happening in the chemistry of love, I don't want to be a nurse or a doctor, I just want to be an observer. I do believe that this kind of love exists and has nothing to do with taboo.
Lee, Kevin. "Spectacularly intimate: an interview with Claire Denis." in: Mubi.com April 2009. (English).

I think it's true that people feel more and more isolated later in their life and it's a discreet way to say I miss you, after all you are part of my family. But she knows it is better to say we are strong, not to express it in terms of weakness.
Lee, Kevin. "Spectacularly intimate: an interview with Claire Denis." in: Mubi.com April 2009. (English).

The metaphysical aspect is very heavy, though, because, number one, your heart is tired. The pump is going to stop. You don't know when, but probably you have signs. And for every human, the heart is also a symbol: it's life.Number two, the heart that is going to save your life comes from a freshly dead person whom you don't know. Maybe a kid who was crushed by a car in the street or a young woman who committed suicide … whatever. Then the dream starts, because whose heart is it? And then, not only that, but my own body is going to reject that new organ because it doesn't belong to me. In other words, it's an intruder. Though it saves my life, it's sort of making my body ache everywhere because all my cells are fighting against it.So, if you take only that aspect, it's already so big, so vast, you know? I think it means more than any realistic story.
Denis, Claire and Damon Smith (Interviewer). "L'Intrus: An Interview with Claire Denis" in: Senses of Cinema. 2005. (English).

But, for me, it's more than his being selfish. He doesn't see, he's not aware of the people still around who love him. He has no respect for that. The only woman he's gentle to, the woman with the dogs played by Béatrice Dalle, it's because she doesn't care for him that he's attracted by her beauty. I would imagine that if she would let him enter her house and open her heart to him, he would disrespect her immediately. So I think Trebor is not a very lovable man.
Denis, Claire and Damon Smith (Interviewer). "L'Intrus: An Interview with Claire Denis" in: Senses of Cinema. 2005. (English).

I think making films deals with something more important than a role and/or being only a woman director. I only to try to be the best I am as a human being.
Denis, Claire and Damon Smith (Interviewer). "L'Intrus: An Interview with Claire Denis" in: Senses of Cinema. 2005. (English).

It's difficult to say that because it seems a little bit pretentious. But it's not. In real life, when I'm not shooting, I'm as bad as I can be, as lazy as I can be, as violent as I can be. But when I'm starting a project, I want to be a better person. I think, if worst comes to worst, at least I don't want to betray the actors and the people I work with.
Denis, Claire and Damon Smith (Interviewer). "L'Intrus: An Interview with Claire Denis" in: Senses of Cinema. 2005. (English).

My films, sadly enough, are sometimes unbalanced. They have a limp or one arm shorter or a big nose, but even in the editing room when we try to change that, normally it doesn't work.
Denis, Claire. "Intruding Beauty: An Interview with Claire Denis." in: Errata. December 9, 2004. (English).

I would like to be more neutral, so editing would be more like a feast — let's try this, let's try that — but it never works, and it's painful sometimes.
Denis, Claire. "Intruding Beauty: An Interview with Claire Denis." in: Errata. December 9, 2004. (English).

You know, when I am shooting, every moment is strong, every moment is important. I am interested in these moments... but I get a cold wind blowing on my neck and I think — oof — this is going to be hard for Q&A.
Denis, Claire. "Intruding Beauty: An Interview with Claire Denis." in: Errata. December 9, 2004. (English).

My films are more formulated like questions, and being a philosophy teacher is more stating things.
Denis, Claire. "Intruding Beauty: An Interview with Claire Denis." in: Errata. December 9, 2004. (English).

And the big nose? The limp? Maybe my films are a little like Michel Subor's character, even with a good nurse, you cannot change them.
Denis, Claire. "Intruding Beauty: An Interview with Claire Denis." in: Errata. December 9, 2004. (English).

When my grand-father's wife died," she says, "my mother was two months old, and he decided - he was a very good-looking man - but he decided to save himself for the baby, so he never wanted to have another [woman], because he thought that would be a betrayal...Close relationship?They were madly in love.
Denis, Claire and Cochrane, Kira (Interviewer). "'I'm not interested in making conclusions." in: The Guardian. July 3, 2003. (English).

My grandfather died when I was 12 ... but I remember the sorrow of my mother. Even now, she's an old lady, but when she speaks about her father, she looks young. A love like that is undefeated, you know?
Denis, Claire and Cochrane, Kira (Interviewer). "'I'm not interested in making conclusions." in: The Guardian. July 3, 2003. (English).

The only thing is, the type of story I like to tell is another sort of dialogue - it's the dialogue between sound and movement, and feelings and emotion.
Denis, Claire and Cochrane, Kira (Interviewer). "'I'm not interested in making conclusions." in: The Guardian. July 3, 2003. (English).

But the fact that all human beings have more or less the same emotions. We don't all look alike - some people think they're tough, some people think they're fragile - but in the end we share a lot. Sometimes I feel like John Wayne.
Denis, Claire and Cochrane, Kira (Interviewer). "'I'm not interested in making conclusions." in: The Guardian. July 3, 2003. (English).

I learned to drive trucks. Nobody asked me to, but I thought - I want to be able to do everything in the world. And I was - I am - lazy. I am afraid of spiders. But suddenly I decided: no more. Ten spiders? I would take them in my hand. Fifty mice? No problem! Suddenly, it was a sort of game for me. Not to be masculine. To be indestructible.
Denis, Claire and Cochrane, Kira (Interviewer). "'I'm not interested in making conclusions." in: The Guardian. July 3, 2003. (English).

If you have a tendency to be a day-dreamer and to gaze at things and fill a blank with music – you know I do the same with sound.
Denis, Claire and G. Allen Johnson (Interviewer). "Thank God It's Friday." in: Film Threat. June 2, 2003. (English).

I’m a very lazy person. I’m not joking! I am like a sponge. I trust what I feel, and my intuition and the feeling that comes from sound and from sight. Maybe I’m passive in a way.
Denis, Claire and G. Allen Johnson (Interviewer). "Thank God It's Friday." in: Film Threat. June 2, 2003. (English).

Film is a transition between passivity and point of view.
Denis, Claire and G. Allen Johnson (Interviewer). "Thank God It's Friday." in: Film Threat. June 2, 2003. (English).

I adored the Série Noire because it was very erotic, because there were women with enormous breasts.
Denis, Clair and Aimé Ancian (Interviewer). "Interview." in: Inge Pruks (Translator).Sense of Sight. 2002. (English).

I didn't at all think I would make films, it was a point in my life where I just told myself: here I am, let's take advantage of it. The idea of having a project, for example, of becoming a director, the very idea of having any sort of ambition, I found that quite abject. To be honest, it wasn't only me, it was the times also..
Denis, Clair and Aimé Ancian (Interviewer). "Interview." in: Inge Pruks (Translator).Sense of Sight. 2002. (English).

At the same time I also did training work with a director called Robert Enrico. That was a much more professional approach. But I didn't feel myself loved, I think he'd appointed me because I had intrigued him, but it was a very masochistic experience.
Denis, Clair and Aimé Ancian (Interviewer). "Interview." in: Inge Pruks (Translator).Sense of Sight. 2002. (English).

Because I was so non-conformist that I was always being yelled at. After a while, I was seized by a kind of anguish. I realised that I wanted to make films but I continued to find that immodest. At the same time I was telling myself: I'll have to change. The world was changing, it was less fun to be rebellious – if you could say I was rebellious – it was less fun to be “floating”. All of a sudden, everything solidified but I continued to live differently. I had a Jamaican period. But I clearly saw that the years were passing and that I'd have to accept my desire.
Denis, Clair and Aimé Ancian (Interviewer). "Interview." in: Inge Pruks (Translator).Sense of Sight. 2002. (English).

Because if filming means you have to control everything, I'd shoot myself.
Denis, Clair and Aimé Ancian (Interviewer). "Interview." in: Inge Pruks (Translator).Sense of Sight. 2002. (English).

There's not much violence in my film but what there is springs from something very deep. I would say it's about love in a way. And what happens when you tangle with something that is stronger than you are.
Denis, Claire and Neil Smith (Interviewer). BBC. December 24, 2002. (English).

Freedom is not having a big budget.
Denis, Claire and Neil Smith (Interviewer). BBC. December 24, 2002. (English).

I started writing CHOCOLAT as a very autobiographical script. It was like writing a journal until I decided to add fictional elements to it.
Denis, Claire and Mark Reid (Interviewer). "Claire Denis interview: Colonial observations." in: Jump Cut. No. 40, March 1996, pp. 67-72. (English).

I think then even a politically uneducated young man would fear that if he gave into his sexual desires, he would be imprisoned.
Denis, Claire and Mark Reid (Interviewer). "Claire Denis interview: Colonial observations." in: Jump Cut. No. 40, March 1996, pp. 67-72. (English).

In S'EN FOUT LA MORT, I deal with a French West Indian man here in Paris, exploring his psychological weakness and the spiritual tragedy of his life. Fanon describes a special type of neurosis — colonized people feeling psychologically defeated even though they are physically free to determine their future.
Denis, Claire and Mark Reid (Interviewer). "Claire Denis interview: Colonial observations." in: Jump Cut. No. 40, March 1996, pp. 67-72. (English).

I happily made a French film in which the black character is bad. I think taking this freedom permits us to make a human image of black people. A black man should not have to be always characterized as a good guy. Films that portray Blacks as always good and eternally suffering promote racist images.
Denis, Claire and Mark Reid (Interviewer). "Claire Denis interview: Colonial observations." in: Jump Cut. No. 40, March 1996, pp. 67-72. (English).