My parents sent me to Montreal because I kept getting kicked out of school in France.

Once I opened my eyes to the realities of life, I couldn't close them.

Sometimes you feel more naked when you're totally dressed than the other way around.

The body is an actor's tool, like the face, malleable. I never thought that being naked was immoral or outrageous.

The body, in 'La Belle Noiseuse,' was the source of the artist's creativity.

The press follow me. I sue them. That's the deal.

There are a lot of films where I play characters that are about the windows to the interior person rather than the exterior.

Today I would say, 'I am against plastic surgery.' It's a grave act. An act that touches our soul. It was frightening.

When I'm playing a part, I can feel all my body playing it; it's like really making love.

When you are happy and in love and when you have children, then maybe you are beautiful.

You may think of me as an object of desire and I'm going to tell you that I can be in front of you naked and not be erotic.

I don't see my old films, but I think of the characters I played as friends, like the women I meet in my life who made strong impressions on me. I remember them and they are part of me.

I have never had so much fun as in Montreal. I taught the kids French, I baby-sat, I went to school, I was a receptionist at a hairdresser's, I danced and drank all night. I found that the more you do, the more you have time to do... it's weird, non?

I just decided that I would not put my professional life on hold to raise children. I know that sounds selfish to a lot of people and I don't know if what I'm doing is the right thing. But that's the way I'm doing it.

I keep reading that I'm cold. But I'm not, I'm shy. And I play a lot of women of fire and sexuality like an animal - so I'm cold on one side and fiery on the other.

I think my best work has been in France with great men. It's been my great fortune to work with really great men - with Olivier Assayas, Raoul Ruiz, Jacques Rivette. I am tutored by them.

I was a very bad student. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew I didn't want to go farther in school. I hated school and was always the bad one; I was always insulting the teachers.

I've just done a film in the United States. It's a thriller called 'A Crime', with Harvey Keitel, we play against each other, and it's so great to play in another language. But I'm definitely not American.

If a man or woman has something redone it is because he or she can no longer live with that part of their body, it is no longer bearable. Either they get help and find the strength to fight or they proceed with the act.

If I have one thing perfect, it's my eyebrows. And my feet. I love my feet. They're like Japanese feet. The rest I would like to hide. Especially my freckles. I feel ridiculous.