Quotes from Jacques Rivette

When you see the films of certain young directors, you get the impression that film history begins for them around 1980.

Many filmmakers pretend that they never see anything, which has always seemed odd to me.

Whereas with Sirk, everything is always filmed. No matter what the script, he's always a real director.

I guess I like a lot of directors. Or at least I try to.

Cocteau is someone who has made such a profound impression on me that there's no doubt he's influenced every one of my films.

Their films would probably be better if they'd seen a few more films, which runs counter to this idiotic theory that you run the risk of being influenced if you see too much.

And I took a long time to appreciate Lynch.

For me, the film has to be incredibly bad to make me want to pack up and leave.

And Twin Peaks, the Film is the craziest film in the history of cinema. I have no idea what happened, I have no idea what I saw, all I know is that I left the theater floating six feet above the ground.

When I talk about ideas, I really mean ideas of mise en scène or—if I were to be shocking about it—of framing, or the way shots are put together, which these days are the only ideas whose profundity I wish to recognize.