The reason I started making films, originally, was that I would see pictures in my head. I had these visions, which I felt compelled to translate through a camera. And I guess that's as good a reason as any to start making films. Today, however, it's totally different: I don't really have pictures in my head anymore, and making films has actually become a way for me to create these images. It's not my reason for making films that has changed but my approach to making them. I still see images, but they're abstract images, as opposed to before, when they were very concrete. I don't know how it happened; I think it's just a consequence of getting older, of maturing. I guess when you are younger, filmmaking is all about ideas and ideals, but then, as you get older, you start thinking more about life and have a different approach to your work, and that's what caused the change.

In spite of that, I have to say that to me, filmmaking has always been about emotions. What I notice about the great directors I admire is that if you show me five minutes of one of their films, I will know it is theirs. And even though most of my films are very different, I think I can claim the same thing, and I think it is the emotion that ties it all together.

In any case, I never set out to make a film to express a particular idea. I understand how one could see it that way with my first films, because they can appear a little cold and mathematical, but even then, deep down, it was always about emotions for me. The reason that the films I make today might appear stronger, emotionally speaking, is just that, as a person, I think I've become a better conveyor of emotions.

Lars von Trier
from Moviemakers' Master Class by Laurent Tirard