But I think it's quite clear in my work that my orientation isn't political or doesn't come out of modern politics.

I would love to see more women directors because they represent half of the population and gave birth to the whole world. Without them the rest [of the world] are not getting to know the whole story.

There are some things that are real, that you can see, that you can observe, like the moon, and grass and things. But for ideas to become real, they have to be played on your senses.

For me, being a director is about watching, not about telling people what to do. Or maybe it's like being a mirror; if they didn't have me to look at, they wouldn't be able to put the make-up on.

I think if it's interesting, it's interesting, and if it's not, it's not working.

I'm someone who loves to play. I make films so I can have fun with the characters.

It's harder being a woman director because on the whole women don't have husbands or boyfriends who are willing to be wives

Only when you are relaxed can you see what's going on.

Performers are so vulnerable. They're frightened of humiliation, sure their work will be crap. I try to make an environment where it's warm, where it's OK to fail - a kind of home, I suppose.

The studio system is kind of an old boys system and it's difficult for them to trust women to be capable

Women today are dealing with both their independence and also the fact that their lives are built around finding and satisfying the romantic models we grew up with.

Paroxysms of pain and twinges of desire leach from universal sources. All human suffering buttons itself to the pang of wanting.

I would like my architecture to inspire people to use their own resources, to move into the future.

Opinion, whether well or ill-founded, is the governing principle of human affairs

It's better to think of life as a proper journey with a beginning and an end. Maybe, I can settle for being immortalised on screen.

Tokyo is like a huge futuristic pinball machine. It's like a bubble with two lost creatures inside a pinball machine that doesn't care about them. The other thing is, it's very colorful.

The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex.

I'm completely removed from any hype that comes my way.

Ability without honor is useless.

Don't go a full day or night without washing your face. You have to get all the dirt and makeup out of your pores.

The only thing I remember writing in prison is a couple of poems for an inmate magazine they did once a year.