Jane Campion Quotes

Powerful Jane Campion for Daily Growth

About Jane Campion

Jane Campion is a renowned New Zealand film director, screenwriter, and producer, best known for her distinctive and thought-provoking works in the cinematic world. Born on April 20, 1959, in Wellington, New Zealand, she was raised in a creative family that fostered her love for storytelling and visual arts. Campion's early influences came from her father, a painter, and her mother, a documentary filmmaker, who exposed her to various art forms at an impressionable age. She studied filmmaking at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney. Her graduation short film, "Peel," won the Palme d'Or for Best Short Film at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival, marking a significant early achievement in her career. In 1993, Campion made her mark with the release of "The Piano," a period drama set in New Zealand that garnered international acclaim. The film earned three Academy Awards, including Best Original Screenplay for Campion and best Actress for Holly Hunter. This groundbreaking work showcased Campion's ability to create captivating narratives that delve into female experiences. Campion's other notable works include "Bright Star" (2009), a romantic drama about the love affair between poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, and "Top of the Lake," a miniseries for BBC Two and Sundance TV. Her latest film, "The Power of the Dog" (2021), has been critically acclaimed, earning several awards, including four Academy Award nominations. Throughout her career, Jane Campion has challenged traditional storytelling norms, focusing on complex female characters and exploring themes of love, identity, and power. Her unique vision and dedication to narrative innovation have solidified her place as one of the most influential filmmakers of our time.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"I think women are very powerful, more powerful than men, really. In their weakness lies their strength."

This quote suggests that Jane Campion perceives women as inherently strong due to their ability to display vulnerability or "weakness." In traditional power dynamics, vulnerability is often associated with weakness, but here it is presented as a form of power unique to women. By acknowledging and embracing their emotions, women can connect deeply with others and exercise influence in ways that may not be readily apparent in conventional, macho power structures. It's a perspective that highlights the emotional strength and resilience often found in women, challenging the notion that power must manifest through overt displays of physical or economic dominance.

"The camera is a tool for feeling and emotion."

The quote implies that filmmaking, specifically through the lens of a camera, serves as a powerful means to express feelings and emotions. In essence, the camera becomes an extension of the director's (or photographer's) sense of touch, allowing them to capture and translate their emotional response to a scene or subject onto the screen, thereby evoking similar emotions in the viewer. It underscores the importance of empathy and emotion in storytelling through film.

"Women's stories need to be heard. They have a different sensibility and they have a different perspective."

This quote by Jane Campion emphasizes the importance of amplifying women's voices and perspectives in storytelling, as they often bring unique insights and sensibilities that differ from those traditionally told by men. By giving space for these untold stories, we can foster a more diverse and balanced narrative landscape, enriching our collective understanding of human experiences.

"I always felt like I was making personal films, but the more you go on in life, the more you realize that your personal experiences are quite universal."

Jane Campion suggests that her movies, initially perceived as personal, have a broader, universal resonance as she gains life experience. This implies that personal stories often contain themes and emotions that many people can relate to, transcending individual circumstances and touching the common human condition. It emphasizes the power of storytelling in bridging gaps between individuals, fostering empathy, and creating shared understanding across diverse groups of people.

"The best work is born out of fearlessness, not comfort, which is why I'm drawn to stories where there is a certain risk involved."

Jane Campion's quote suggests that creative work of high quality often emerges from fearlessness rather than comfort or safety. By taking risks, artists and storytellers push boundaries, challenge themselves, and ultimately create more impactful and meaningful works. The inherent risk in such endeavors encourages originality and innovation, as individuals are compelled to think outside the box and explore uncharted territories in their creative pursuits.

When you first fall in love it's so thrilling, you can't wait to throw yourself away and make this new wonderful twosome.

- Jane Campion

Love, New, Wait, Thrilling

But short films are not inferior, just different. I think the short gives a freedom to film-makers. What's appealing is that you don't have as much responsibility for storytelling and plot. They can be more like a portrait, or a poem.

- Jane Campion

Storytelling, I Think, Poem

It's been such a deep and amazing journey for me, getting close to John Keats, and also I love Shelley and Byron. I mean, the thing about the Romantic poets is that they've got the epitaph of romantic posthumously. They all died really young, and Keats, the youngest of them all.

- Jane Campion

Love, Deep, Been, Shelley

I think the whole tension about romanticism is the way it builds and builds, and the moment it's consummated, the tension's over.

- Jane Campion

Think, Over, Tension, Romanticism

Actual violence has no attraction for me at all.

- Jane Campion

Me, Violence, Actual, Attraction

I feel that directors at times are like the janitors on the set. I am the secretary, I am the organizer, I am the maid, and I ask if they have eaten or rested. The best things are always out of your control. It's those moments that surpass the imagination that are thrilling.

- Jane Campion

Feel, Thrilling, Directors, Eaten

I think that the romantic impulse is in all of us and that sometimes we live it for a short time, but it's not part of a sensible way of living. It's a heroic path and it generally ends dangerously. I treasure it in the sense that I believe it's a path of great courage. It can also be the path of the foolhardy and the compulsive.

- Jane Campion

Sometimes, I Think, Part, Compulsive

I think that the romantic impulse is in all of us and that sometimes we live it for a short time, but it's not part of a sensible way of living. It's a heroic path and it generally ends dangerously.

- Jane Campion

Think, Living, I Think, Sensible

I seem to have been able to make a career out of doing what I feel like doing, so why not keep doing it? What's corrupting is wanting to be more important. You want to be more arty - you get your identity from that. Or you get your identity out of making more money.

- Jane Campion

Career, Doing, Been, Why Not

Eight years ago, I was drawn into Keats's world by Andrew Motion's biography. Soon I was reading back and forth between Keats's letters and his poems. The letters were fresh, intimate and irreverent, as though he were present and speaking. The Keats spell went very deep for me.

- Jane Campion

Deep, Back, Very, Irreverent

And, I mean, I think poetry does need to be met to some extent, especially, I guess, 19th century poetry, and for me, it's just been so worth the effort. It's like I'm planting a garden in my head.

- Jane Campion

Some, Been, Extent, Garden

Women today are dealing with both their independence and also the fact that their lives are built around finding and satisfying the romantic models we grew up with.

- Jane Campion

Independence, Fact, Models, Satisfying

This is the first generation to grow up on Thatcher - it's a different ethos. It's money minded, and it's the cult of yourself. Now that's fine, except when it falls down, and you can't achieve your goals - through high unemployment, through the fact that you probably need inherited money to get anywhere.

- Jane Campion

Fact, Through, Achieve, Goals

Performers are so vulnerable. They're frightened of humiliation, sure their work will be crap. I try to make an environment where it's warm, where it's OK to fail - a kind of home, I suppose.

- Jane Campion

Will, Sure, Performers, OK

A message I've been telling myself: the cinema is very conservative, and unless you have a story that satisfies you, that is within the unchallenging zone, but you love it, you can't do it as cinema. Otherwise, you better go do it for television, which is more daring now.

- Jane Campion

Love, Very, Telling, Satisfies

'The Piano Lesson' is very sophisticated, easily the most adult or complex material I've attempted. It's the first film I've written that has a proper story, and it was a big struggle for me to write. It meant I had to admit the power of narrative.

- Jane Campion

Big, Sophisticated, Very, Struggle

When I read Andrew Motion's biography, I wept. It's something about the purity of the story and how fresh it was because of the love letters Keats wrote.

- Jane Campion

Love, Motion, Read, Love Letters

It's a luxury to be able to tell a long form story. I love novels, and I love to have a long relationship with characters.

- Jane Campion

Love, Long, Tell, Novels

As for how criticism of Keats' poetry relates to criticism of my own work, I'll leave that for others to decide.

- Jane Campion

Work, My Own, Relates, Keats

If you read Keats's poems, they're often full of doubts and anxieties. They can be quite tough.

- Jane Campion

Doubts, Poems, Read, Keats

I can get very philosophical and ask the questions Keats was asking as a young guy. What are we here for? What's a soul? What's it all about? What is thinking about, imagination?

- Jane Campion

Asking, Here, Very, Keats

There's no artist in this world that doesn't enjoy the dream that if they have bad reviews now, the story of Keats can redeem them, in their fantasy or imagination, in the future. I think Keats' poem 'Endymion' is a really difficult poem, and I'm not surprised that a lot of people pulled it apart in a way.

- Jane Campion

Artist, Bad, I Think, Keats

Women often postpone their lives, thinking that if they're not with a partner then it doesn't really count. They're still searching for their prince, in a way. And as much as we don't discuss that, because it's too embarrassing and too sad, I think it really does exist.

- Jane Campion

Women, Searching, I Think, Postpone

There was a big drive when I was at art school to make you aware of the economy of meaning - after all, this was still during the tail end of minimalism. Being responsible for everything you put in your picture, and being able to defend it. Keeping everything clear around you so you know what is operating. To open the wound and keep it clean.

- Jane Campion

Big, Around, Your, Art School

I did this Super-8 film at art school called 'Tissues,' this black comedy about a family whose father has been arrested for child molestation. I was absolutely thrilled by every inch of it, and would throw my projector in the back of my car and show it to anybody who would watch it.

- Jane Campion

Been, Anybody, Arrested, Art School

What I have learned from my work up to now, is to try to be open, but also protect myself by not letting the good and the evil get too much importance.

- Jane Campion

Work, Importance, Learned, I Have Learned

My musical knowledge is so bad it's embarrassing. When composers discuss music with someone as primitive as myself, they have to talk about it in terms of senses and emotion, rather than keys and tempo.

- Jane Campion

Bad, Composers, Musical, Discuss

Because there is that sort of feeling that people don't know what to do with gaps in their lives. It's a scary notion, but actually, if you can stand in space just for a little while, a new door will open, or you'll be able to see in the dark after a while. You'll adjust.

- Jane Campion

Space, Door, While, Gaps

I didn't like England. I couldn't take the look of the place or the style of friendship. I need more intimacy from people than is considered okay there, and I felt that my personality and my enthusiasms weren't understood. I had to put a big lid on myself.

- Jane Campion

Friendship, Big, Considered, Understood

I think women don't grow up with the harsh world of criticism that men grow up with, we are more sensitively treated, and when you first experience the world of film-making you have to develop a very tough skin.

- Jane Campion

Skin, I Think, Very, Film-Making

I would love to see more women directors because they represent half of the population - and gave birth to the whole world. Without them writing and being directors, the rest of us are not going to know the whole story.

- Jane Campion

Love, Directors, Half, Represent

So many actors are not open in front of the camera - they have a persona.

- Jane Campion

Front, Persona, Many, Camera

To deny women directors, as I suspect is happening in the States, is to deny the feminine vision.

- Jane Campion

Vision, Feminine, Deny, Suspect

You know, sex is actually not so original as the way people love or the stories behind each relationship, which is what you remember. Sex is sex in the end.

- Jane Campion

Love, Behind, Which, In The End

I'm a much better filmmaker than painter. But studying it did make me visually acute and taught me lessons like being economic: Say something once and you don't have to say it again.

- Jane Campion

Studying, Like, Acute, Lessons

I don't belong to any clubs, and I dislike club mentality of any kind, even feminism - although I do relate to the purpose and point of feminism. More in the work of older feminists, really, like Germaine Greer.

- Jane Campion

Purpose, Belong, Like, Feminists

Between 18 and 26 I acted professionally, on the stage and a little bit on television. Acting is okay, but it's quite pressurized. Then I went to England - I wanted to reinvent myself.

- Jane Campion

England, Reinvent, Okay, Acted

I had this spooky psychological thing about 'The Piano' before it began, which was how everybody was going to go nuts on the set. Because a film tends to set up the way people are going to behave.

- Jane Campion

Everybody, Psychological, Tends

I took four years off after 'In the Cut' because I wanted to see who I'd be without work. I even tried being a hermit in the wilderness in New Zealand. I stayed in a warden's hut two-and-a-half hours off the Routeburn Track through the fjords on the South Island. It was early winter, so there was no electricity or running water.

- Jane Campion

Through, Cut, South, Early

I think that three-act fundamentalism in film culture is a problem sometimes, because it's almost too obvious, or it's too expected. And it's not the only way to fill two hours, or to phrase things, or to order thoughts, or order ideas.

- Jane Campion

Sometimes, I Think, Almost, Fundamentalism

With 'Bright Star' and with 'The Piano,' too, I felt a kind of sadness about it being in such a different era, because of my lack of experience with the era. And one of the ways I'd get over it is to remind myself that every film, even if it's contemporary, creates its own world.

- Jane Campion

Bright, Own, Over It, Remind

There are some things that are real, that you can see, that you can observe, like the moon, and grass and things. But for ideas to become real, they have to be played on your senses.

- Jane Campion

Some, Senses, Like, Grass

I think feature film can be quite conservative, because you have to now get audiences to come out, and it's quite a hard thing to do. Of course, television can be conservative too.

- Jane Campion

Think, I Think, Feature Film, Hard Thing

I had a daughter who was 9 years old and I had the feeling I wasn't going to be a real parent if I didn't quit making movies for a while and spend time with her. I also felt that I'd made enough movies and said what I had to say at the time.

- Jane Campion

Parent, Had, Making Movies, Daughter

'The Piano' ended up on television. Everything ends up there anyway.

- Jane Campion

Television, Piano, Ends, Anyway

I love it when actors come to you with a problem and you have to listen. You'd like them to just get on with it, but it often means that there's a problem with the script.

- Jane Campion

Love, Like, Means, Script

If you start with a good idea, you can encapsulate it in a phrase and explain it. I like high-concept films. Everyone can get hold of it. I don't think there's any harm in that at all.

- Jane Campion

Think, Explain, Films, Phrase

I've had a lot of different responses to my films. I got a lot of support from 'The Piano,' the obvious one, but it feels like an ocean, with a lot going on - the goal is to keep alive.

- Jane Campion

Goal, Feels, Films, Piano

But I think it's quite clear in my work that my orientation isn't political or doesn't come out of modern politics.

- Jane Campion

Politics, Think, I Think, Orientation

Tragedy makes you grow up.

- Jane Campion

Experience, Grow, Tragedy, Grow Up

For me, being a director is about watching, not about telling people what to do. Or maybe it's like being a mirror; if they didn't have me to look at, they wouldn't be able to put the make-up on.

- Jane Campion

Mirror, Maybe, Telling, Director

I have to admit that I had a lot of problems with poetry.

- Jane Campion

Problems, Had, Lot, Admit

I can't imagine people telling me what to do - I just can't imagine it.

- Jane Campion

Me, People, Imagine, Telling

I'm someone who loves to play. I make films so I can have fun with the characters.

- Jane Campion

Play, Loves, Films, Have Fun

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