But I'd be lying if I didn't say that every time you go to make a film, you're desperate to either do it better than you did it last time or to not repeat yourself.
No matter how many times you do it, you don't get used to the sadness - for me at least - of coming to the end of a film.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote expresses the emotional impact of watching a film's conclusion, suggesting that one can never fully acclimate to the feeling of sadness it evokes.
Paul Thomas Anderson's quote reflects a deep, personal connection to cinema and its ability to inspire feelings of sadness, particularly at the end of a film. He suggests that regardless of how many times one experiences this emotion, it remains profound and unchanged, highlighting the enduring power of storytelling and its emotional resonance. The quote resonates with anyone who has felt a sense of loss upon completing a cherished narrative, emphasizing that certain artistic experiences leave a lasting imprint.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a film discussion, reflecting on the emotional weight of a story.
More from Paul Thomas Anderson
All quotes →I really subscribe to that old adage that you should never let the audience get ahead of you for a second. So if the film's abrasive and wrongfoots people then, y'know, that's great. But I hope it involves an audience.
My filmmaking education consisted of finding out what filmmakers I liked were watching, then seeing those films. I learned the technical stuff from books and magazines, and with the new technology you can watch entire movies accompanied by audio commentary from the director. You can learn more from John Sturges' audio track on the 'Bad Day at Black Rock' laserdisc than you can in 20 years of film school. Film school is a complete con, because the information is there if you want it.
I always had a dream about trying to make a movie that had no dialogue in it, that was just music and pictures. I still haven't done it yet, but I tried to get close in the beginning.
It's a gamble you take, the risk of alienating an audience. But there's a theory - sometimes it's better to confuse them for five minutes than let them get ahead of you for 10 seconds.
We’re all children of Kubrick, aren’t we? Is there anything you can do that he hasn’t done?
Similar quotes
The critic who doesn't make a personal statement, in remeasurements he himself has made, is merely an unreliable critic. He is not a measurer but a repeater of other men's results. KRINO, to pick out for oneself, to choose. That's what the word means.
You can't perish because of your own feelings; you have to embrace those things as an actor because it's part of your palette.
When I'm stuck for a closing to a lyric, I will drag out my last resort: overwhelming illogic.
It occurred to me that every work of art is a synecdoche, there's no way around it. Every creative work that someone does can only represent an aspect of the whole of something. I can't think of an exception to that.
I never, ever want to apologize for a film. If it's bad I'll say it's my fault. And that's what I can say so far in all the films that I've done, that if you don't like it, it's entirely my fault.
I feel like a ghost wandering in a world grown alien. I cannot cast out the old way of writing and I cannot acquire the new. I have made an intense effort to feel the musical manner of today, but it will not come to me.