And if there was one title that could be applied to all my films, it would be Civil War – not civil war in the way we know it, but the daily war that goes on between us all. – Michael Haneke
Mainstream cinema raises questions only to immediately provide an answer to them, so they can send the spectator home reassured. If we actually had those answers, then society would appear very different from what it is. – Michael Haneke
I love actors, both my parents were actors, and the work with actors is the most enjoyable part of making a film. Its important that they feel protected and are confident they wont be betrayed. When you create that atmosphere of trust, its in the bag – the actors will do everything to satisfy you. – Michael Haneke
And I dont believe that children are innocent. In fact, no one seriously believes that. Just go to a playground and watch the kids playing in the sandbox! The romantic notion of the sweet child is simply the parents projecting their own wishes. – Michael Haneke
The surrealists, and the modern movement in painting as a whole, seemed to offer a key to the strange postwar world with its threat of nuclear war. The dislocations and ambiguities, in cubism and abstract art as well as the surrealists, reminded me of my childhood in Shanghai. – J. G. Ballard