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. – Charlotte Rampling
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. – Charlotte Rampling
Fashion is not trivial. It’s a huge industry and a big part of our lives. Fashion is about us – how we look and present ourselves, how we can change ourselves, and our perceptions. You can dress up to be quite glorious creatures – it’s all a very important part of life. – Charlotte Rampling
I know I have great inner strength; I always have. I can blank things out, cut people out, and I know that I can go and live in a cave on my own if necessary. – Charlotte Rampling
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. – Charlotte Rampling
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. – Charlotte Rampling
I was incredibly fatalistic. I just thought, ‘If it works, it works.’ But I’ve always been like that. I’ve never been easily impressed, and I’ve never thought I didn’t deserve something. If I got it, then I deserved it. – Charlotte Rampling
Training is fabulous because it gives you a basis, a strong structure, so that when you’re unbelievably nervous and you think that you can’t get a word out, you will get the word out. – Charlotte Rampling
When people want to see your film, you’re over the moon because you’ve actually made real contact. That’s something very special. – Charlotte Rampling
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. – Charlotte Rampling
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. – Charlotte Rampling
I’ve played the wicked mothers; I’ve played the serial-killer-type mothers now. They have to have an edge on them. They can’t just be everyday moms, because I never thought of myself as an everyday person in cinema – I’m an everyday person in real life, like anyone. But not in what I project out there. I want something more exciting. – Charlotte Rampling
Ever since I was a small child, I’ve had this feeling – it’s in my nature, and so it’s not even pretentious – that if everyone’s going one way, I will go the other, just by some kind of spirit of defiance. – Charlotte Rampling
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. – Charlotte Rampling
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. – Charlotte Rampling
I’m not very good at talking and being with people and being gregarious and outgoing. I love people, but I have great difficulty doing it. – Charlotte Rampling
Usually, watching yourself is pretty awful. People think we all love watching our own films. We don’t. We cringe away from it. – Charlotte Rampling
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. – Charlotte Rampling
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. – Charlotte Rampling