I’d like to be for cinema what Shakespeare was for theatre, Marx for politics and Freud for psychology: someone after whom nothing is as it used to be.

The Jews have never been ashamed of being Jews, whereas homosexuals have been stupid enough to be ashamed of their homosexuality.

Yes, actually ever since I saw his films and tried to write about them, Sirk’s been in everything I’ve done. Not Sirk himself, but what I’ve learned from his work.

Women think in [Douglas] Sirk’s films. Something which has never struck me with other directors. None of them. Usually women are always reacting, doing what women are supposed to do, but in Sirk they think....

And I don’t believe that melodramatic feelings are laughable – they should be taken absolutely seriously.

The more real things get, the more like myths they become.

So certainly, if we can tell evil stories to make people sick, we can also tell good myths that make them well.

The best thing I can think of would be to create a union between something as beautiful and powerful and wonderful as Hollywood films and a criticism of the status quo. That’s my dream, to...

It isn’t easy to accept that suffering can also be beautiful… it’s difficult. It’s something you can only understand if you dig deeply into yourself.