“People have asked me a million times, "Why don't you like your own pictures?" I don't know why. I do know that every time I look at one of them, I realize I could have done it better.”
“We have a problem with fiction. Or maybe they’re simply upset that it’s me making the film, a director coming from a family who is not in the left. But stories are there for all of us. These virulent reactions are so Chilean and so exhausting. There are people who believe they own certain events and thus have moral authority to talk about them.”
“By the time a film of mine makes it into the theaters, I have a love-hate relationship with it. There is always something I could have done to make it better.”
“The most difficult thing in the world is to reveal yourself, to express what you have to. As an artist, I feel that we must try many things - but above all we must dare to fail. You must be willing to risk everything to really express it all.”
“I distrust reason and culture. In our thoughts there are images that appear suddenly, without us pondering them. In all my films, even the most conventional ones, is the tendency to irrational conduct that can not be explained logically.”
“It may seem like the martial arts world has always been dominated by male characters. But that's only the physical difference. My idea is to create an impact when you see a woman fighter fighting with all the might of a man.”
“My films are not policiers, or thrillers, but instead aim to provoke, to insinuate doubts, to challenge the official statements and certainties from the powers that be which hide real interests and the truth.”
“There are lots of different ways to make film. I don’t believe there has to be any orthodox way to making movies, or any rules. It’s what works for the filmmaker, and, theoretically, the audience.”
“The values that once existed no longer exist. The family, the bourgeoisie—I’m talking about values, morals, economic relationships. They no longer serve a purpose. My films are reactions translated into images.”
“Lubitsch shows you the king on his throne, and then in the bedroom. I show you the king in his bedroom first so you know what kind of man he really is when you see him on the throne.”
“I wouldn’t wish the eighties on anyone, it was the time when all that was rotten bubbled to the surface. If you were not at the receiving end of this mayhem you could be unaware of it.”
“Documentary can requote reality I think more honestly and authentically, when done properly, than any other medium. If it is practiced properly, then it is more like photography than cinematography.”