But the cinephile is … a neurotic! (That’s not a pejorative term.) The Bronte sisters were neurotic, and it’s because they were neurotic that they read all those books and became writers. The famous French advertising slogan that says, “When you love life, you go to the movies,” it’s false! It’s exactly the opposite: when you don’t love life, or when life doesn’t give you satisfaction, you go to the movies.
— François Truffaut
Blondes make the best victims. They’re like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints.
— Alfred Hitchcock
LOS ANGELES—French film director François Truffaut (left) and Hitchcock, 1962. © Philippe Halsman / Magnum Photos
