François Truffaut: In the course of our conversations we've gone into the dreamlike quality of many of your films, among them Notorious, Vertigo, and Psycho. I'd like to ask whether you dream a lot.
Alfred Hitchcock: Not too much ... sometimes ... and my dreams are very reasonable. In one of my dreams I was standing on Sunset Boulevard where the trees are, and I was waiting for a Yellow Cab to take me to lunch. But no Yellow Cab came by; all the automobiles that drove by me were of the 1916 vintage. And I said to myself, "It's no good standing here waiting for a Yellow Cab because this is a 1916 dream!" So I walked to lunch instead.
A.H.: Sex on the screen should be suspenseful, I feel. If sex is too blatant or obvious, there's no suspense. You know why I favor sophisticated blondes in my films? We're after the drawing-room type, the real ladies, who become whores once they're in the bedroom.
A.H.: Making a film means, first of all, to tell a story. The story can be an improbable one, but it should never be banal. It must be dramatic and human. What is drama, after all, but life with the dull bits cut out?
A.H.: The fact is I practice absurdity quite religiously!
- François Truffaut, Truffaut/Hitchcock
