Audrey Tautou

It was very difficult to go from relative anonymity to such huge success in such a short space of time.

I like the light that comes off metal shutters at siesta time in the summer, having a break from driving in the shops at motorway services, the odour of petrol at petrol stations, rolling down little slopes. I hate it when you tread in a puddle and the water soaks your socks.

Art - be it painting, sculpture, music - they are all creations, they are creative acts. I consider a film, with everything that is involved in it, an art.

I think that when you have that really strong desire to work with someone it's because, instinctively, you feel you have a certain kinship.

I would like to work with people whose films I really like: Walter Salles, Woody Allen, Julio Medem.

I'm not ready to do any compromises for my work.

I don't know where I'm going to be in three years. Because I have the feeling that the future is so full of possibilities, to stop being an actress, to do something else... for me, the future is just a huge bunch of discoveries.

To have a personal life is the minimum freedom you have to give to a human being.