Killing a man in defense of an idea is not defending an idea; it is killing a man.
Jean-Luc GodardRead
Cinema is not a series of abstract ideas, but rather the phrasing of moments.
Interpretation
Cinema captures tangible moments rather than just abstract concepts.
Jean-Luc Godard emphasizes that cinema is a medium rooted in real experiences and moments, suggesting that films convey emotions and narratives through concrete instances rather than merely theoretical ideas. This perspective invites viewers to appreciate the artistry of filmmaking as a reflection of life itself, where powerful moments shape our understanding and connection to the story being told.
In practice
This quote can open discussions in a film studies class about the nature of cinema.
Killing a man in defense of an idea is not defending an idea; it is killing a man.
I don't think you should feel about a film. You should feel about a woman, not a movie. You can't kiss a movie.
Sometime reality is too complex. Stories give it form.
More or less, I am always saying, 'Give me more. Let's do what has not been done.'
Objects exist and if one pays more attention to them than to people, it is precisely because they exist more than the people. Dead objects are still alive. Living people are often already dead.
Suddenly, I don't know what to say. It happens often to me. I know what I want to say, I think about whether it is what I mean, but when the moment comes to speak, I can't say it. - Nana Kleinfrankenheim, Vivre Sa Vie.
I just want to be told a story, and I want to believe I'm living that story, and I don't give a thought to influences or method or any other writerly concerns
For me, the creation of a photograph is experienced as a heightened emotional response, most akin to poetry and music, each image the culmination of a compelling impulse I cannot deny. Whether working with a human figure or a still life, I am deeply aware of my spiritual connection with it. In my life, as in my work, I am motivated by a great yearning for balance and harmony beyond the realm of human experience, reaching for the essence of oneness with the Universe.
The world is a king, and like a king, desires flattery in return for favor; but true art is selfish and perverse β it will not submit to the mold of flattery.
It was pitch dark. I could hear only the violin, and it was as though Juliek's soul were the bow. He was playing his life. The whole of his life was gliding on the strings--his last hopes, his charred past, his extinguished future. He played as he would never play again...When I awoke, in the daylight, I could see Juliek, opposite me, slumped over, dead. Near him lay his violin, smashed, trampled, a strange overwhelming little corpse.
The writer can choose what he writes about but he cannot choose what he is able to make live.
The reality of the final moment, just before shooting [the scene], is so powerful that all previous analysis must yield before the impressions you receive under these circumstances, and unless you use this feedback to your positive advantage, unless you adjust to it, adapt to it and accept the sometimes terrifying weaknesses it can expose, you can never realize the most out of your film.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.