Audrey Tautou

When you look at the comedies that are out there, 99 per cent of the time, men are the heroes. It's often thought that a woman can't be funny, that women are supposed to be sexy, not funny.

It's difficult to feel that people are looking at you in the street. I don't like the fuss.

Because I don't do five films a year, people maybe think that acting is not essential to my life. But if I worked any more than I do, I'd have no personal life.

I keep my wishes and dreams secret, like a child.

The Da Vinci Code' was a great experience and I was lucky to be chosen, but I don't like the pressure that goes with all these big things. I don't want to be any more famous at all.

I feel very French and I need my life here; I need all my friends and family.

I started off in this dreadful, vulgar film called 'The Libertine.' I was just learning. I needed the money.

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

Amelie' was a very precise, a very composed performance - ultra-defined, down to the tips of her fingernails, the ends of her hair.

I am not super-attached to my career.

I am always surprised to be chosen by a director for a role because I never understand why they like me.

When I was a little girl, I loved monkeys. I wanted to be a primatologist. I went to the careers office to ask how. Because nobody could give me a good answer, I opted for acting.

I have several plan Bs: I want to become a sailor; I like to draw; I would love to learn many things, but I don't have time.

I think for everybody celebrity, fame, is a dream. People see it as a blessing.

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.

In certain environments young adults can't choose their lives because of family pressure. In the bourgeoisie there is still a sense you will marry within that milieu.

I don't want to live in Los Angeles. The city depresses me! It is too flat. There are too many cars.

You are supposed to have a dream of walking the red carpet. But I'm really not like that. Because fame is... I don't think it is something interesting or precious.

What was weird for me after 'Amelie' was how people look at you. It moves all your relationships and sometimes even your intimate ones, and you don't understand why suddenly everything around you changes, because you are exactly the same person.

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

Some films are pure entertainment of course, but what interests me and what I want to do are projects that really make you think, that move you, that will bring you something that will stay with you for a while. I think films are essential to the intellectual awakening of people.

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.

People in France are very intrusive when they recognize you. In New York, they are very polite, with quick words, so it's great.

Fame is more powerful than talent.

I know what I'm worth as an actress: not the best in the world, but not bad either.