Candid Charlotte Rampling
Saturday, December 12, 2015 at 9:00AM
Rampling for NYTimes Magazine
Murtada here. Charlotte Rampling’s performance in 45 Years is a quiet storm of volatile emotions, holding attention with understated intimations that hint much more than show. Inexplicably left off both the Golden Globe and SAG nominations list, she might become this year’s Marion Cotillard, missing the early nominations and getting in at the Oscars. She’s already won the LA Film Critics Association best actress award and here’s hoping more regional critics notice her in the coming weeks. We will talk about the movie and performance once the movie is released.
One glorious result from being in the awards conversation is that Rampling was in Hollywood and New York recently giving good quote. And unlike her 45 Years character, Rampling is not holding back and is quite candid in these interviews.
Regarding the perception that she’s “aloof” and “detached”:
‘‘I’ve always, since the beginning, had my antenna out, like, ‘You can’t get me.’ It makes you more interesting when people know they can’t get you.’’
Or why she's always herself:
“If you really want to have me somewhere, you're gonna have me as I am."
Explaining how she’s not a fancy actor with a certain “method”:
‘‘Creative expression comes from places we don’t know. When I started out early in films, people said, ‘Oh my gosh, you can do this.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I can.’ I don’t know why, but I knew I could. I can’t explain what it is and how you get there, but it’s not anything to do with the intellect. I wanted to get to the being state of a character. Just watching someone being, living.’’
She even has fun reminiscing about working with Woody Allen in Stardust Memories (1980), acknowledging that he was infatuated with her because “He was between his two great loves: he had just finished with Diane and hadn’t started with Mia”.
And recognizes that part of the acclaim for her 45 Years performance is about getting old:
‘‘That’s what I always wanted to do. I wanted to make my life, not a work of art — I didn’t think of it that way — but I wanted to create a visible continuity in what I did. I wanted there to be a thread I could follow and other people could follow. We all go through different things. But every now and then we will connect up again. And the person they’re connecting up with is a person they recognize. The face is changed, I’m getting older. But it’s recognizable.’’
Don't you love it when actors open up and say interesting stuff beyond how the role was "challenging"and what "an honor"it was to work with that certain director. All hail candid Charlotte, who's so fasinating in these sit-downs I imagined her on Golden Globe nominations morning:
"What is a golden globe?" Charlotte Rampling biting into her morning croissant
— Murtada (@ME_Says) December 10, 2015
When did you first know that you loved Charlotte Rampling? (We freely assume that you do.)
Reader Comments (37)
Haven't watched much from her but she was certainly great in 45 Years. I want to see Cherry Orchand, this new mini-series with Wishaw and a couple of her movies reccomended on this site. Don't recall the titles now.
I first knew when I rented STARDUST MEMORIES followed shortly by THE NIGHT PORTER in the 90s. wow.
Knew nothing of her prior to Searching for Debra Winger. Stardust Memories made an impression. Startled she was in Basic Instinct 2 and remembering her face from the Arquette doc. And eventually seeing her in a documentary all about her which pushed me over the edge. I have several titles in her filmography I have yet to see. What I like best about her choices as an actress it has nothing to do with being brave or provocative she is simply interested in interesting.
When I was a kid I caught Georgy Girl on TV and while I felt great affection for Lynn Redgrave's spunky Georgy and Alan Bates's puckish Jos I loved Charlotte's bitchy Meredith as well.
I followed her loosely after that until her resurgence in Under the Sand, where she's brilliant, and have tried to see much of her work since. Love her in Swimming Pool and am looking forward very much to seeing 45 Years when it finally arrives.
She seems wonderfully frank and down to earth. She has an O.B.E. but I'm surprised she hasn't been designated a Dame yet.
The first movie I recall falling in love with her in is (weirdly) a 70s horror called Asylum. Completely luminous and captivating.
The time I recall thinking she was a true great? The 1-2 of Life During Wartime and Never Let Me Go - fully realised characters from mere minutes of screen time.
It's weird that the love for Rampling coincides with so much apathy for Helen Mirren - they are so similar! Both fought to overcome 'sexpot' cliches due to their beauty, purposely choosing left-field projects and stretching themselves. Both have frequented more mainstream 'prestige' projects, unable to lift thankless roles. One just happens to have had the stars align since 2006...
We should be praising both of them - complaining that Mirren is 'over-rewarded' seems a little petty. Especially when any Leading Role success for an actress over 50 paves the way for more films about over 50 females to be made.
Swimming Pool was when I first knew. Life During Wartime is the most recent notch on her lipstick case. (With 45 Years anticipated and unseen.)
Thank you Ozon for Under the Sand and for casting Rampling in it
There's an artsy documentary on Rampling called "The Look" from 2011. Not many living actors get the doco treatment.
Charlotte Rampling seems to play the same character over and over again in all her films as the cold blooded bitch. Even in her interviews she comes across as having ice water in her veins. I hope I am wrong and she's not the female Mr. Burns.
Not at all cold-blooded in 45 Years.
I was initially aware that there was something arty and notorious about her from seeing still images The Night Porter (and if you do a Google search you can get lost in incredible images of the young Rampling as a fashion model/muse). But her performance in Stardust Memories really got to me.
That Interview scene in SM is fantastic.
Word for word, joel6!! Georgy Girl is one of my all-time favorites.
I really noticed her around the time of "The Verdict" & "Stardust Memories". I really like her work in "Never Let Me Go" where she seems to convey a lot of depth in a short bit of screen time.
I would say Swimming Pool where I was just wowed by her performance and then going full-frontal where I was like "whoa!" as it's clear she's still quite fucking fine. Then I saw another film she did with Francois Ozon in Under the Sand which I think is one of her greatest performances of her career. I've seen The Night Porter, Stardust Memories and some other stuff she did. She's still gorgeous.
THE LOOK is a fascinating documentary, full of all of those candid "I am who I am" comments. It is definitely the point where I fell in love with her (particularly when she talks about her love life over the years and children), and I urge anyone who is in sync with this article to seek it out.
I first noticed her in 1971, in the controversial 'This Pity She's a Whore, by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi. The film had censorship problems and -hence- was a big success when it was eventually released.
Wow, she's stunning in that still. Those cheekbones! Rachel Weisz should play her in a biopic lol
I remember watching Georgy Girl as a kid with my mom and sister (my mother had a James Mason phase). We thought the black and white visuals were funny because it was a "modern" movie (we were young and had no real concept of "modern"). Rampling does solid work in 45 Years. It's a pity that the movie isn't better.
I knew I loved her when I got everything Woody Allen meant to say in this scene from Stardust Memories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zXm3z9nrN8
happy new year images
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