Alain Resnais

There cannot be any communication except through form. If there is no form, you cannot create emotion in the spectator.

— Alain Resnais

When I was twelve, the passage from silent film to the talkies had an impact on me-I still watch silent films. I…

— Alain Resnais

We should all die with a sharp, brusque heart attack. My father was lucky like that. One day he went hunting. He…

— Alain Resnais

So I used formal techniques to make the film more perceptive emotionally.

— Alain Resnais

I never had any special appetite for filmmaking, but you have to make a living and it is miraculous to earn a…

— Alain Resnais

I'd even say it's a realistic film because that's the way it happens in our heads; that was the idea.

— Alain Resnais

“They say that a director always makes the same film. I try to make, as François Truffaut said, the next film in…

— Alain Resnais

That's easy to answer: I never had any special appetite for filmmaking, but you have to make a living and it is…

— Alain Resnais

I am never driven. Every film Ive made has been an assignment.

— Alain Resnais

My films seem to be better understood and better received by the monthly publications. On television the first reactions are usually unfavorable.

— Alain Resnais

When I was 12 I made some little films with my friends. I tried to make gangster films, like Fantomas, but I…

— Alain Resnais

Since we had little money and few documents, we had nothing.

— Alain Resnais

I never thought of becoming a director. When I was twelve, the passage from silent film to the talkies had an impact…

— Alain Resnais

A viewer as opposed to a filmmaker might see a film differently. But I'm extremely comfortable with my style.

— Alain Resnais

It was repugnant, but it was the only way to communicate.

— Alain Resnais

For me an unfavorable initial reaction happens fairly often. For some reason the more time that elapses after the film opens, the…

— Alain Resnais

Luck, I never looked to make difficult movies on purpose. You make the films you can make.

— Alain Resnais

I am never driven. Every film I've made has been an assignment.

— Alain Resnais

I saw part of The Singing Detective on TV in New York. I said, Something is going on here.

— Alain Resnais

There was a darkness, a melancholy, that people had trouble accepting. Maybe now, it would work better.

— Alain Resnais

I can't see any reason why a film shouldn't be stylized and visually beautiful. I don't think a beautiful set is pretentious.

— Alain Resnais

Oh, yes, that never happened to me in my life before. It was a risky film, and I warned the producer.

— Alain Resnais

The present and the past coexist, but the past shouldn't be in flashback.

— Alain Resnais

“I try hard to give rhythm to the changes of pace in a film so that the directing is full of contrast:…

— Alain Resnais