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The world distribution of French movies is a laughing matter. That is a fact.

What I think I'm perceived as in France is, like, I'm this leading man always doing strange movies because most of the movies I did, like 'Irreversible' or 'Brotherhood of the Wolf' and a bunch of others, and even in France, they always come out as a particular movie, not like the typical French kind of movies that people know most of the time.

When a French book becomes an international hit it is because of the author and not because of the language. The same goes for movies.

I asked a French critic a couple of years ago why my books did so well in France. He said it was because in my novels people both act and think. I got a kick out of that.

If you go back and watch 'The French Connection,' it's been cannibalized so many times. There are certain movies like that, where you see the original and think, 'This isn't so great.' And the reason it isn't so great is because everyone has copied it.

In movies, there are some things the French do that Americans are increasingly incapable of doing. One is honoring the complexities of youth. It's a quiet, difficult undertaking, requiring subtlety in a filmmaker and perception and patience from us.

The French have got to understand that a film is so expensive that it can no longer afford to be regional or even national in scope.

And I think you understand a little bit more why she falls for him. In a way, watching the French do anything is a little more fun because their gestures are different. And in that way, they make everything interesting.

I'm very happy in France making movies.

Usually, the extras have a different mentality. I had the mentality of an artist, because I was a 'ballet-rina.' But most extras are out to make a fast buck for nothing. They're 'atmosphere.'