It’s hard not to be transfixed by Charlotte Rampling. Her famous eyes are as captivating as they are mysterious. An iconic star of European Arthouse Cinema, her dazzling beauty stands in contrast to the dark complexity of her many roles.
For someone who believes that acting requires total ‘exposure’ no one conveys hidden emotional depth as well as Rampling. Watch ‘The Night Porter’, for instance, where her character, a holocaust surviver, restarts a sado-masochistic relationship with her former concentration camp guard, played by the equally brilliant Dirk Bogarde. The image above (a still from the film) is the moment they, unexpectedly, meet again. Her famous ‘look’ captured in all its intensity.
In recent years Rampling has had something of a Renaissance. Equally comfortable acting in French as her native English, she has become a muse for the French cinema director François Ozon, starring in films such as ‘Under the Sand’ and ‘Swimming Pool’.
Rampling’s interviews are equally eloquent and compelling. You get the sense that she is completely her own person. A rare thing indeed. As a fellow fan wrote, she is simply a: ‘strong, talented, beautiful woman, then and now…’
This is obviously how Woody Allen sees Rampling, casting her as his dream woman in his 1980 film ‘Stardust Memories’. This short, beautiful scene, his ‘happiest moment’, captures why:
