Top 30 Charlotte Rampling Quotes

I did that film just so I could kiss Robert Redford.

You decide to give your trust over to somebody. And if you don’t decide to, then for me, it’s really not worth going into collective enterprises; you should just work alone.

I think that most actors don’t have very good opinions of themselves.

I remember my father saying to me once, ‘I finally know how to describe you, Charlotte. You’re prickly.’ And he was right – prickly is a very good description. If I had to be an animal, I’d probably be a porcupine.

If you don’t have a certain amount of stage fright, then it’s not going to be that interesting. It’s not going to have the inner vibration. I think screen work needs inner vibration.

Quite often in life, when a tragic event arrives it becomes a springboard for mirroring all other things in one’s life that one hasn’t come to terms with.

French women have been made beautiful by the French people – they’re very aware of their bodies, the way they move and speak, they’re very confident of their sexuality. French society’s made them like that.

I’m very flattered to be called a style icon! But it’s simple, my style; it’s just men’s suits and shoes. That’s the basic premise.

I think the reason I have secrets is because there are a lot of things I haven’t been able to let out, and I’m able to let them out through the screen and this medium.

A film based on a jolly good John Grisham book is fine, but I like to get a bit under the skin.

We must be very careful when we say that somebody giving you compliments about your looks should be offensive. I think women really should look at why they’re being offended by that.

I am actually a very unspeaking person. I’m not really good in social situations. People expect me to be more outgoing. I don’t know why. They think I have this kind of assurance.

I am fascinated by the whole process of what it’s like to be alive, whether it’s unbelievably uncomfortable and horrible or whether it’s quite nice.

The process of filmmaking is very musical, you get into the rhythm and the rhythmics of how someone is, especially with Woody Allen who is very much into body language and body movement.

If you want to paint the inner life, you paint it from the exterior. From the exterior, you breathe the inner life into your painting.

Usually, watching yourself is pretty awful. People think we all love watching our own films. We don’t. We cringe away from it.

One mysterious person looking at another mysterious person equals what? Another mystery.

I was very friendly with Jimi Hendrix because my boyfriend at the time, Tommy Weber, was making a film about him, so I would go to all of his shows.

I’d had a French education for three years, my father being in the army. From 9 to 12, I went to French school. I’ve been sort of part of the culture, part of the geography, since I was quite young – the imprint was there.

Go out there and try on everything – short skirts, long skirts, mid length, little jackets, men’s clothing – and really look at yourself; really walk around in the clothes. Don’t just take someone else’s advice. You must feel you in these clothes and feel what it’s like to live in them.

If words don’t have vibration behind them, and a real feeling behind them, then they’re just words.

I must explore desert ground and see what can grow. But there are limits. I know in my heart what I would never do.

I felt very special in Paris, more special than I felt in London. I love London for different reasons. I’ve always been close to London, being English. But somehow, there’s something special about living as an Englishwoman in Paris.

Doing cinema is not about watching yourself.

I could have been a superstar in America – I was certainly taken out there. But I said, ‘No way, Jose, I’m not staying here in this madhouse.’

When I see a young girl, I can see why you would be attracted if you were a man. I remember when it was like that for me, too, and it was nice.

You can never really judge your work because once it’s done, it’s done.

A lot of young actors will do a scene and then run off and look at themselves. I don’t believe in that at all.

I started writing diaries, and mine were horrible. Oh, the monotony. Oh, the angst. I said, ‘I don’t want anyone to find these!’ I destroyed them.

What I am doing is not acting. I am playing myself.