Quotes from Anna Karina

Quite simply, I owe everything to Jean-Luc. He taught me everything I know about films, about books, about art, about life.

You know, for a painter, I was an assistant, and then he knew a lot of movie people. So, how do you say in English, I was an extra. I'm in a lot of Danish pictures as an extra.

I left school when I was 14 to go into Danish films. When I was 17, I went to Paris to make my fortune.

'Le Petit Soldat' was banned in Paris; it wasn't out in the movie houses. It was forbidden because it was talking about the Algerian war.

I think personally that every actress should do a little film. Even a short film. And all directors should act, to know how difficult it is also the other way around.

The very first picture that I did, the director came up to me on the street - I was 14 at the time - and asked me if I would be in a short film that he was doing called 'Pigen og Skoene,' which means 'The Girl with the Shoes,' which is a funny title but that is how it is.

I've been writing short stories since I was a little girl.

We never thought the films would be so famous for so long. We were just happy to do things. It was more bohemian. We knew we were doing something we liked and it was not like everyone else. It was a happy world.

Jean-Luc Godard saw me in a commercial. He first asked me to play a little part in 'Breathless' of a girl who is taking her clothes off. I said, 'No, I don't want to take my clothes off.' But he called me again for 'Le Petit Soldat.' He said it was a political film, so I didn't have to take my clothes off at all.

Every character is so different, if you put the photos next to each other, you see how different I looked and how different I tried to be. And that's what I really enjoyed, that I could really be a different character every time.

I had only one pair of white shoes with a very high heel, and they were terrible. They got terribly dirty, because I had no money and I walked all over Paris by foot. I also only had one black dress, which I had to wash every night.

Actors and actresses have done a lot of films with their legs, with their arms, with the whole crew and the camera. Why shouldn't they be as good as a first-assistant director who has made three or four films? They've done it with their body!

Because you speak to me in words, and I look at you with feelings.

Suddenly I had a call one day saying they'd like me to come to the office to see Jean-Luc Godard. 'He is preparing a film called 'Breathless.' Jean would like to see you.' I said yes. I thought he was pretty strange, because at that time nobody was wearing those kind of glasses where you couldn't see the eyes.

I have to tell you that we never had any scripts. Jean-Luc never wrote a script in his life. He would write the dialogue that morning before shooting.

It was always the same thing - no script, dialogue at the last minute. Everyone always thought we just said anything we wanted. It's difficult to explain - some actors want to know why they have to do this and that. It was so simple and natural with Godard.

I don't sing any more. I guess I'm getting old.

You can always tell a man's nationality by introducing him to a beautiful girl. An Englishman shakes her hand; a Frenchman kisses her hand; an American asks her for a date; and a Russian wires Moscow for instructions.

After all, things are what they are. A message is a message, plates are plates, men are men, and life is life.

I went to Paris when I was 17 and would sit in a cafe called Les Deux Magots, in the Latin Quarter. I spoke English, but not a word of French.

The only thing I can recall being allowed to improvise was the little singsong 'I don't know what to do' chant in 'Pierrot Le Fou.' Which I came up with because I literally did not know what to do!

Many other directors, they have lots of scripts and they never rehearse as much, and you never really have time to be a part of it. With Jean-Luc, you always had time to be a part of it. It's difficult to explain to normal people.

Godard and I got married because I got pregnant. Then I lost the child and they couldn't do anything about it. So I went to a kind of, not a crazy house, but a place where you have to relax. I hated it.

I think it's very touching to see young people interested in what we did a long time ago. They don't say, 'Well, I saw this old film with you.' They say: 'I saw this wonderful film. I really love it.'