Public affairs, 1934 : Prelude
Angels of sin, 1943 : It takes an auteur ; Jean Giraudoux
Les dames du Bois de Boulogne, 1945 : Scandals and shocks ; Interiority leads the way ; Jean Cocteau ; The Festival du Film Maudit
Diary of a country priest, 1951 : Between these two worlds ; It's the impossibility that attracts me ; To see and to hear ; As I would write a poem
A man escaped, 1956 : The wind blows where it wants to ; A new means of expression
Pickpocket, 1959 : A film made of hands, objects, and glances ; A film's rhythm should be like the beating of a heart ; To capture only what is real ; To get to the mystery ; Poetry and truth are sisters
The trial of Joan of Arc, 1962 : This familiarity with the palpably supernatural ; I know of nothing more atrocious or more poignant ; It's what the film wanted ; Emotion should be our only guide ; Joan of Arc was beautiful, elegant, approachable, modern ; To make her real, to bring her close ; If you want the current to flow, you have to strip the wires
Adaptation : Aspects of dramatic creation
Au hasard Balthazar, 1966 : A donkey in all its purity, its tranquility, its serenity, its sanctity ; The freest film I've made, the one to which I've given the most of myself ; To create life without copying it ; The beaten path
Mouchette, 1967 : More in the manner of portraitists ; Something else I like in Bernanos: his supernatural is constructed from the real ; Looks that kill
The sound track : The ear is far more creative than the eye
A gentle woman, 1969 : The confrontation between death and life ; I am here, the other is elsewhere, and the silence is terrible
Four nights of a dreamer, 1972 : Art is not a luxury, but a vital need ; Between blue and brown ; I look for surprises
Lancelot of the Lake, 1974 : To bring the past into the present ; It was Lancelot's very particular inner adventure that I found striking ; Torn between fidelity and felony ; The sound of iron ; The Grail
Notes on the cinematograph, 1975 : You strip your art naked
The devil, probably, 1977 : The adversary ; The gaps are where the poetry slips in
L'argent, 1983 : O money, visible god! ; The cinema is immense. We haven't done a thing.
