QuoteProject
To be a film-maker, you are almost forced to be surrounded by contradictions... You must have talents of so many different kinds - talents that are contradictory.
Francois Truffaut
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Filmmaking requires a blend of various and often opposing skills and perspectives.

Francois Truffaut highlights the duality and complexity involved in filmmaking, suggesting that a successful filmmaker must balance a variety of contradictory talents and approaches. This encompasses creative vision, technical skill, and emotional depth, all of which may seem at odds but are essential for creating impactful cinema.

Themes

FilmmakingContradictionsArtCreativityTalent

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can inspire aspiring filmmakers at a seminar about the diverse skills needed in the industry.

More from Francois Truffaut

There's no such thing as an anti-war film.
Francois TruffautRead
But the cinephile is … a neurotic! (That’s not a pejorative term.) The Bronte sisters were neurotic, and it’s because they were neurotic that they read all those books and became writers. The famous French advertising slogan that says, “When you love life, you go to the movies,” it’s false! It’s exactly the opposite: when you don’t love life, or when life doesn’t give you satisfaction, you go to the movies.
Francois TruffautRead
I love the way she projects two facets: a visible persona and a subterranean one. She keeps her thoughts to herself; she seems to suggest that her secret, inner life is at least as significant as the appearance she gives.
Francois TruffautRead
I want my audience to be constantly captivated, bewitched, so that it leaves the theatre dazed, stunned to be back on the pavement.
Francois TruffautRead
The film of tomorrow will not be directed by civil servants of the camera, but by artists for whom shooting a film constitutes a wonderful and thrilling adventure.
Francois TruffautRead
I have always preferred the reflection of the life to life itself.
Francois TruffautRead

Similar quotes

Magic becomes art when it has nothing to hide.
Ben OkriRead
The audience is the most revered member of the theater. Without an audience, there is no theater. Everything done is ultimately for the enjoyment of the audience. They are our guests, fellow players, and the last spoke in the wheel which can then begin to roll. They make the performance meaningful.
Viola SpolinRead
The unsatisfied yearning of the artist reaches back to the primordial image in the unconscious which is best fitted to compensate the inadequacy and one-sidedness of the present.
Carl JungRead
Most serious writers refuse to make themselves available to the things that technology is doing. I've never been able to understand this sort of fear.
William S. BurroughsRead
Racist writing is a craft failure.
Kwame DawesRead
When I was a kid, there was no collaboration; it's you with a camera bossing your friends around. But as an adult, filmmaking is all about appreciating the talents of the people you surround yourself with and knowing you could never have made any of these films by yourself.
Steven SpielbergRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.