Catherine Deneuve Quotes

People who know me know I`m strong, but I`m vulnerable.

I`m lucky. I`m getting older with some directors who are getting older.

I don`t see any reason for marriage when there is divorce.

To work is a noble art.

A star remains pinned on a wall in the public imagination.

But being a film actor is very different from, say, a theater actor. You get involved with a character after spending a long time waiting, and this demands a lot of energy and concentration. So I am very involved with the character, but I have to leave it as soon as it`s finished. And also, you always have to be at the right level when it`s time to shoot, which is not always the best time for the actor. Sometimes, if you`re shooting a complicated scene, you have to stay in a position and wait for the technician to do his job, and then you have to be where you`re supposed to be, right on the spot. You don`t rehearse all that much on films. If I think of the amount of time I spend on set compared with the time spent shooting, it`s ridiculously short.

But that`s what I like about film - it can be bizarre, classic, normal, romantic. Cinema is to me the most versatile thing.

Directors have to push me because I never start (high) and then need to be pushed down; I have to be pushed up. Not all the time, but often.

I find sometimes that it`s more difficult to do very simple, low-key films, like I`ve done with André Téchiné. Sometimes, at the end of a shoot with him, I feel very down, like I`m leaving something because these are low-key but novel characters. But when you do films like Repulsion (1965) or musicals, where you have to play someone so far away from yourself, what I do is I come in the morning and get involved in the character, but I`m always very pleased to leave it at night and have my life. No, I don`t live that much with the character. I find it hard enough having to spend so many hours with the character during the day. Because you don`t act all the time and you spend a long time waiting, but you still have to support this character all day long.

(on her looks) I know that if I didn`t look the way I looked, I would never have started in films. That, I remember, and I know I have to accept it.

I like to be directed, it`s true. If I didn`t like that, I`d do something else. Being an actor means being an instrument for someone else.

I`m not always the nicest person to meet, because I forget very easily that I`m an actress when I`m not working. I live very normally, I go out with my friends, we go to the movies, I queue, we go to restaurants. Then if something happens to remind me that I`m an actress then I become a little different and things become a little heavy. I like the advantages; I know it`s not right but I like being famous when it`s convenient for me and completely anonymous when it`s not.

Interestingly, people who have come to visit me on set - which I don`t like - they`re very surprised and say that I`m not the person they know. I`m not available to them, I cannot go off with them, I cannot get involved in their conversations, so they get the impression that they`re seeing someone else. I tell them, yes, I do love to see them after a shoot, but during the shoot, I am with the people I work with. They ask, how can I stand being on a set waiting for so long, and that it must be so boring. And I have to explain that to wait, for an actor, is not at all like someone who`s waiting to see the doctor. It`s not the kind of wait where you get bored. Even if I try to think about something else while I`m waiting, I am living with the film, with the scene. But I do often feel tired during the day, and I`m lucky because I can go to sleep very easily, for even 10 to 15 minutes, even if I`m in costume or under a wig, so I do.

Interviews are written by someone else - the journalist makes the decision to add or take things away and I couldn`t recognize my voice, or anything of myself in that.

What I don`t like is close-ups, unless the actor is in the camera with me. I have to feel his presence. If I have to feel the presence of the camera before my partner`s, it`s very difficult. I love to do very long and complicated scenes. I like to have this impression that we are all working together, where you can see all the technicians and everybody is really doing the same thing at the same time. With close-ups, of course you have the crew there, but most of them are just around and it doesn`t involve that many people.

(on Gene Kelly) It was mostly an aura about him. For me he was Hollywood. The way I`d imagined it as a child.

(on Jean-Louis Trintignant) I adore working with him. He`s so generous, he doesn`t play only for himself, but for his partner. He`s also concerned with everyone on a set. That`s why the technicians have great respect and tenderness for him.

I don`t live that much with the character. I find it hard enough having to spend so many hours with the character during the day.

I`m not an admirer of action movies. I just think, Oh my God, it must be so tiring.

It has been very erotic and provocative for people to wonder about my feelings for women.

Opportunities are often things you haven`t noticed the first time around.

I have no physical courage, I`ve asked for a double.

Some people fall in love with their co-stars and feel things that they never thought they would feel for them because they are touching.

It`s always difficult to play a scene of physical violence because you`re always afraid that you don`t know your own strength and might hurt someone.

I don`t enjoy. I suffer from enjoying. It`s very Christian.

I have been involved in some films other actresses would not have done.

I always try to keep that feeling of being on the edge. I`m afraid of knowing too well and seeming mechanical.

I`ve always been able to decide what was more important at different points in my life, but I never gave up personal things to work, never.

I love to not work. I like to travel. I work maybe half the year, no more.

Cinema is still a very young art form with extraordinary techniques and very impressive special effects but sometimes it seems the soul has been taken out of things.

It`s very difficult for me to speak about being an actor.

I never hoped that both my children would become actors. I expected them to do something else.

A lot of actors don`t like to see how they`ve done every day.

I think the clothes in Belle de Jour are very important to the style of the film. Even today, it is still timeless.

Being an actress is a very physical thing. If I didn`t look the way I looked, I would never have started in films.

Being an actor means being an instrument for someone else. I want to give myself completely.

Actors have to be there and do the work, and that`s enough.

People don`t know very much about me. They do not know what really goes on in my private life.

There are relatively few role models for young people. We are in a society that is ruled by men.

I`m not always the nicest person to meet, because I forget very easily that I`m an actress when I`m not working.

People expect a lot more from someone they think looks interesting. It`s a burden.

Prostitution happens to you because of troubles you had. In reality no woman would choose to do that.

Bjork is a very original, interesting person. I like her very much.

I go to the movies a lot, and I regret when I see some actor that I used to like, to find them offering no more surprises.

Sometimes it`s more difficult to do very simple, low-key films.

I am frivolous. Then I feel guilty.

I would have liked maybe to be in architecture or painting, something connected to the fine arts.

I cannot imagine having a physical relationship with a woman. I have not done that. But I really love women.

The story is more important to me than the part.

You get involved with a character after spending a long time waiting, and this demands a lot of energy and concentration.

I can be very critical on myself and on other people; I can be very demanding.

Marriage is obsolete and a trap.

I like being famous when it`s convenient for me and completely anonymous when it`s not.

Acting is also working with people who invite you into their dreams and trust you with their innermost being.

Film is a very young art that is still evolving. Soon, we shall reach a balance between content and technology.

I wouldn`t say no to being in a film with Jude Law. I love English actors.

Sex is a big question mark. It is something people will talk about forever.

I choose my roles carefully.

Being a film actor is very different from a theatre actor.

Even if there are a lot women in films, there are few who are lesbians, that people know about.

Directors have to push me. I have to be pushed up. Not all the time, but often.

Lesbians and gays... they still have to fight, even inside. It`s not that simple, even if they seem to be accepted.

In America you need a bodyguard to go out.

All women who kill or have sexual obsessions or who are prostitutes have trouble with their fathers.

Polanski was very precise. I think he still is.

That`s what I like about film-it can be bizarre, classic, normal, romantic. Cinema is to me the most versatile thing.

I love vampire stories. That`s why I did the movie. Women especially were taken with that movie-even more so when it came out on video.

I think anything that has to do with sexuality makes people very interested.

I admire directors so much, I find them incredible: they manage such a huge number of people of different characters, think of the money involved.

I didn`t devote my life to acting. I give a lot to my work, but my life has always been more important.

I have a strong sense of responsibility. I like to be directed, it`s true. If I didn`t like that, I`d do something else.

I was never a dangerous woman. I`m not the prissy blonde woman that could take your husband away.

A woman has to be intelligent, have charm, a sense of humor, and be kind. It`s the same qualities I require from a man.

I`m lucky; people write scripts for me.

You can express a lot of things, a lot of action without speaking.

Mississippi Mermaid was a very special experience because we only had the dialogues for the scenes we were shooting the night before.

Love is suffering. One side always loves more.

I like some of the early silent films because I love to watch how actors had to play then. What would interest me today is to do a silent film.

You suffer as an actor. It`s difficult to be an actor and live a good life, especially today.

I like all these little animals that run and eat and hide all the time. I like their faces, They seem to be scared and curious at the same time.

Even if a woman is abused a very long time ago, it comes out in her life in a negative way.

I get irritated, nervous, very tense or stressed, but never bored.

I live very normally, I go out with my friends, we go to the movies, I queue, we go to restaurants.

I did important films when I was very young.

On Belle de Jour, the producer was very protective. It was very hard for me.

When I first see the dailies, I look only at myself, but then you start to see the scene.

This book was company for me-I wrote these things when I was in hotels, far from where I normally live. I never intended to publish it.

To have a public life, you still have the right to a private life.

I had mice that I kept as pets when I was very young, and I`ve always liked the way they look. Even rats. I`m not scared of them.

To wait, for an actor, is not like someone who`s waiting to see the doctor. It`s not the kind of wait where you get bored.

Truffaut loved actresses, and he was very intense. All the actresses I knew wanted to do a film with him.

I love to do very long and complicated scenes.