Film Quotes by Peter Greenaway

For so many filmmakers, cinema is a means to an end.

— Peter Greenaway

Cinema has reached a dead end.

— Peter Greenaway

Cinema is dead, long live cinema.

— Peter Greenaway

Cinema, which demands suspension of disbelief, is an increasingly naive proposition.

— Peter Greenaway

I have often thought it was very arrogant to suppose you could make a film for anybody but yourself.

— Peter Greenaway

Cinema is far too rich and capable a medium to be merely left to the storytellers.

— Peter Greenaway

Cinema basically examines a personality first and the body afterward.

— Peter Greenaway

I do indeed think that cinema is mortal. There is a lot of evidence already that it is dying on its feet.

— Peter Greenaway

There is visual illiteracy with text-oriented films like bloody 'Harry Potter' and 'Lord of the Rings.'.

— Peter Greenaway

Eisenstein was a good editor. I was trained as a film editor, and I've no doubt that the editor is key to…

— Peter Greenaway

We have more than enough deodorised, over-the-top, sentimental cinema. Let's try to bring a little human intelligence into things. It can be…

— Peter Greenaway

I suppose I am gently cynical about notions of who we think we are, but I certainly don't hate my fellow man.…

— Peter Greenaway

Only cinema narrows its concern down to its content, that is to its story. It should, instead, concern itself with its form,…

— Peter Greenaway

I want to regard my public as infinitely intelligent, as understanding notions of the suspension of disbelief and as realising all the…

— Peter Greenaway

That comes from most people having an American film model in their heads which is nothing but a total illusionary masturbatory massage.

— Peter Greenaway

I don't want to become an ivory tower filmmaker. That sounds peculiar, but I want to be a mainstream filmmaker. I want…

— Peter Greenaway

Some people would say again that my attitudes are cold and cerebral; I suppose if you're thinking about American sentimental movies, I…

— Peter Greenaway

I don't believe that one has to tear down the cinema screen in order to renew cinema. But new input and new…

— Peter Greenaway

Whether you're Godard or Almodovar or Scorsese, it's text, text, text. Everything begins with the text, and this is a source of…

— Peter Greenaway

An American critic wrote that she would rather be forced to read the New York telephone directory three times than watch the…

— Peter Greenaway

On the other hand, I view the whole matter from a cosmic perspective. I don't take a position. I believe that there…

— Peter Greenaway

I acknowledge Mike Leigh and Ken Loach. They are prostlytizers of English socialism preaching to the converted and telling us what we…

— Peter Greenaway

My favourite film-maker west of the English Channel is not English - but to me doesn't seem American either - David Lynch…

— Peter Greenaway

In practically every film you experience, you can see the director following the text. Illustrating the words first, making the pictures after,…

— Peter Greenaway

Film is such an extraordinary rich medium which can handle so many different modes of operation, combining together in the same place…

— Peter Greenaway

It's a big criticism of Greenaway films that they are far too interested in formalism and not enough interested in notions of…

— Peter Greenaway

There is no obligation for the author of a film to believe in, or to sympathise with, the moral behaviour of his…

— Peter Greenaway

I made a very bad mistake; I miscounted these scraps of information on the record as 92, and in continual homage to…

— Peter Greenaway

My heroes among filmmakers would be people like Buñuel and Pasolini, who were of very high cinematic intelligence, but tread on a…

— Peter Greenaway

I never go to the cinema. I can't stand sitting in the dark with strangers -- all of us obliged to share…

— Peter Greenaway

If you think about it, most cinema is built along 19th-century models. You would hardly think that the cinema had discovered James…

— Peter Greenaway

I think it is really important to be in some way provocative -- either intellectually or viscerally -- in the films one…

— Peter Greenaway

I don't want to be a film-maker. I think painting is far more exciting and profound. It's always at the back of…

— Peter Greenaway

It seems so tragic to me that so many filmmakers are making movies up against this extra-ordinary revolution with one eye closed…

— Peter Greenaway

Most cinema is not about images but text. Why on earth have we based cinema on text? Why can't we break that…

— Peter Greenaway

I think my films are always quite self-reflexive and always question 'why am I doing this, is this the right way to…

— Peter Greenaway

I think my films are very English. That certain emotional distance, interest in the world, interest in irony. These are all deeply…

— Peter Greenaway

Americans don't understand what metaphor in cinema is about. They're extremely good at making straightforward, linear narrative movies, which entertain superbly. But…

— Peter Greenaway

There have been innumerable films about film-making, but Otto e Mezzo was a film about the processes of thinking about making a…

— Peter Greenaway

It seems to me that dominant cinema seems to require an empathy or a sympathy between the film and the audience which…

— Peter Greenaway