Two of your most talked-about roles, "The Night Porter" and "Max, Mon Amour," deal with sexual taboos. Do you enjoy pushing boundaries?

Provocative subjects provoke me, and I need that. Otherwise, I'll get bored. I've always searched out that type of work, and it's not just coincidence that I chose these particular films. They are related to me, because I see myself in them.

People have responded to "Under the Sand" in part because on-screen portrayal of sexuality in older women is so rare. Why do you think that is?

The cinema is more interested in youth, and I can understand it. Young people are more attractive and beautiful. But what a woman of my age has to offer is extraordinary [laughing], and you'll only know it if you allow them to come into your life.

Do you see a double standard in movies between women and men of this age?

Yeah, I do. But honestly I do think older men are sexy, and for women that's not always quite so. There's a natural cycle that, when you're in your 50s, it's not all about that anymore. You don't necessarily have to seduce people anymore, whereas men still like doing that. I like it here in Europe, where the older woman is the venerated one: not necessarily looked up to as a sex symbol, but she's a wise woman, someone who is very beautiful but not just there to be jumped on.

Are you more of a method actor, where you have to submerge yourself in the character's identity, or can you just show up and deliver your lines?

I think about the role a lot before I play it, but when I actually come onto the set, I don't want to have to think about it at all. It's all in there somewhere, and I just call it up. All actors have a great palette available to them, and I don't think you ever need to be afraid that you're not going to call the right emotions up.

So how did you find working with a classic method actor like Paul Newman?

With Newman, I just felt a great mystery around this man. He was shy, he was timid. But you could also feel he was someone who'd had many knocks in his life and had got through them and found ways to come to terms with them, whether it was his race-car driving or whatever. Things seemed to make sense to him, which made him calm as an actor, and therefore great to work with.

We've talked about the similarities between the characters you've played. Is there a connection with some of the great directors you've worked with, like Luchino Visconti, Sidney Lumet and John Boorman?

The connection is that I trust them, and that allows me to lose control, to let myself be taken away. If I'm prepared to let go, I can disappear into the director's world, and become a manifestation of their fantasy. I like that seduction that goes on. And I'm completely unresisting, which I've noticed is quite rare. A lot of actors resist terribly, that's just how they work.

Which is ironic, because it's the opposite of your on-screen persona.

Yes, I probably look as if I'm going to resist like mad whatever the director wants, because I look quite fierce a lot of the time. But I don't want to resist. That sense of daring is what allows me to give of myself.

How are you different from your characters?

I have a playful, childlike side that only my close friends and family sees. I think to stay closest to your source of creativity is to stay closest to where you were when you were very young. You didn't worry about the pressures of society so much. You just were. I think that part of me has always been very protected.

What are your memories of that young age?

I remember imagining everything: playing all kinds of games in my mind and all the time saying, "Let's pretend. I'm this, you're that, and here we go." My sister and I used to make these toy horses and pretend that we were these supreme riders, and we'd ride all over to places where we could never really go. It was extraordinary. And I still have some of those horses we made.

Before this interview, I found a Charlotte Rampling chat room, where people talk endlessly about you and your career. Considering your stated desire for privacy and reticence about fame, do you find that sort of fandom flattering or unsettling?

That's what has always happened, with fan clubs and that sort of thing. I think it's fine. If they want to get together and talk about my screen persona, they're imagining this whole other character that's probably much more interesting than plain old me.

So you're somewhat sympathetic?

Yes. For example, I've never worked with Robert Redford but I did this brief cameo appearance in "Spy Game," and I did it because I wanted to have the chance to meet him, and to give him a kiss [laughing], which the script called for. He was a really great guy. So I can understand.

Are there any types of roles you haven't played that you'd like to?

Not really. I'm not really very inventive in that way. Instead I like to feel that somebody else has really thought about me and come to me. It goes back to that notion of letting myself go without a net. You can't plan out that sort of thing.

It's sort of a romantic way of running your career.

Yes, but otherwise I'm merely another member of the rat race. It's like Marie in "Under the Sand": Her sensuality is something that she subconsciously needs to keep alive. I feel the same way about acting. I have to let it breathe by not forcing it. And it's funny: Today doing what you want is a romantic notion, but 25 years ago it wasn't. That's just what we did. It sounds clichéd to talk about the importance of holding on to your beliefs and intensity. But the clichés are true. I've never sold out, ever.

Do you think a lot of actors sell out?

I see people sell out all the time. They do it once and they try to turn it around, but then it happens twice, three times. How many times do they have to beat themselves over the head before they understand? I may have made some odd films, but I've never made crap, and I've never done it for the money. It's about honor. Honor is a warm thing, a caressing thing. I'd rather go to bed with honor than a bank balance. I'll feel much better in the morning.

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