Channel hopping: Charlotte Rampling in French cinema of the early 2000s

Abstract

In this article, I shall explore Charlotte Rampling's star persona in a series of French/French-backed films made between 2000 and 2005, in particular considering her as an ageing transnational female star, in terms of both representation and performance. By representation, I mean to analyse how Rampling's nationality, gender and age function in our understanding of her and her films, not least because she often plays sexually active and/or aggressive women. In the films discussed here, which include Sous le sable/Under the Sand (François Ozon, France, 2000), Embrassez qui vous voudrez/Summer Things (Michel Blanc, France/UK/Italy, 2002), Swimming Pool (François Ozon, France/UK, 2003), Vers le sud/Heading South (Laurent Cantet, France/Canada, 2005) and Lemming (Dominik Moll, France, 2005), Rampling in particular plays sexually active and/or aggressive older women. However, I shall also consider Rampling through the framework of performance. Following Elena del Río (2008), I shall argue that Rampling repeatedly produces affective performances that not only play upon but also elude the representational aspects of her work – and that this notion of what del Río terms ‘affection’ might be a useful framework through which to reconsider the concept of charisma, a quality that Richard Dyer, drawing upon Max Weber, identifies in Stars (1998 [1979], p. 34–37).

Keywords:

• affection
• charisma
• Charlotte Rampling
• performance
• representation
• stars