Having made her screen debut in 1965 with Richard Lester's comedy "The Knack... and How to Get It", the British actress Charlotte Rampling went on to star in such diverse films as "The Damned", "The Night Porter", "Farewell my Lovely", and "Stardust Memories". She follows her acclaimed performance in Fran莽ois Ozon's haunting bereavement drama "Under the Sand" with a lead role in the melancholic seaside comedy "Summer Things".
How did you get involved with "Summer Things"?
The role in "Summer Things" wasn't written for me - the director Michel Blanc had never thought of it for me. My agent read the script, and sent Michel a copy of my previous film "Under the Sand", as he'd thought I was not light enough for "Summer Things". He watched "Under the Sand", which isn't a light film, and changed his mind, and thought I'd be right for the part of Elizabeth. I certainly hadn't had a holiday in Le Touquet before, although I rather like the idea of this very English watering hole on the French coast.
What interested you the most about Elizabeth?
I think because she's interested in going somewhere else from where we find her at the beginning, the fact that she doesn't want to remain like a hamster on the wheel going round and round. She actually dares to ask a few questions to herself and to others so that she can move on. I like anybody who does that, whoever they are in life, whether it's giving a hand to somebody or daring to say something that will mean that their life won't be the same afterwards.
Was it hard to shake off your role as a bereaved woman in "Under the Sun" and switch to this often farcical comedy?
I don't think you get your roles out of your system. They all become part of a group together, and you put more emphasis on one than another. You bring out one and the other waits in the wings, in terms of the emotional way you play with a character and the emotional colours you bring out. It's all there inside you, and there are some parts you don't touch for quite a long time. That's what is nice about what's happening at the moment - there is a sort of opening up for me. I've been an actress for a very long time, and it's almost as though in the past I've been forbidden to have fun. Now with films like "Summer Things", I'm allowed to have fun!
