My French friends all ask me the same question: ‘Why have
you chosen to live in America? You’re French and you need a French
environment.’ My answer to this is that the environment which has made me what
I am is the cinema. I am a citizen of the world of films.
With the development of new means of communication we are
back in the state of horizontal compartments, just as in the Middle Ages the
Western world was united by the Latin language and Christianity. Our
present-day religion is the bank, and our language is publicity. The key-word
is output, by which we produce more. When the world market is saturated we
start another war to get new customers. The aim of warfare is no longer
conquest but construction. When the building is destroyed the wheels turn again.
We build skyscrapers on the ruins of pagodas, and this fills the belly of the
working-man, who would otherwise revolt.
I can well imagine a telephone conversation between the Russian head of state and the American president: ‘Can you help us out, my dear fellow? Arms production is falling off in a most disturbing way.’ The Russian: ‘We’re having the same trouble. For the time being the manufacture of the XYZ super-jet is keeping us going, but that can’t last much longer. We shall have to think up something else.’ . . . ‘Can’t we start a small war somewhere? That would save the arms industry.’ . . . It sounds like a joke, but things must happen in much that kind of way.