After a turn as a psychopath in "Asylum" (1972), Rampling was at her sultry best in Liliana Cavani's controversial "The Night Porter" (1974), cast as a concentration camp survivor who recreates a sadomasochistic affair with a former Nazi guard (Dirk Bogarde). She did well with the femme fatale role opposite Robert Mitchum in "Farewell, My Lovely" (1975) and was heart-breaking as one of the women in the life of a film director in Woody Allen's "Stardust Memories" (1980). Sidney Lumet tapped into her penchant for chilly women casting her opposite Paul Newman in "The Verdict" (1982) while Nagisa Oshima's 1986 black comedy "Max Mon Amour/Max, My Love" cast her as a diplomat's wife who takes a chimpanzee for a lover. Rampling shone as a Thatcherite politician in David Hare's "Paris By Night" (1988). In the 90s, except for a leading turn as a bitchy psychotherapist in the 1994 British TV-movie "Murder in Mind", the actress has proven a capable supporting player, notably as the mistress to both a father and his son in "Radetzky March" (1994), as a cold-hearted attorney in "Invasion of Privacy" (HBO, 1996) and, most particularly, as Helena Bonham Carter's wealthy and controlling aunt in the acclaimed "The Wings of the Dove" (1997).

As the new century dawned, Rampling's career hit a high gear with three high profile roles in 2001. She twice played the estranged wife of actor Stellan Skarsgard in "Signs and Wonders" and "Aberdeen". But her best role was as a woman whose denial of her husband's likely death in "Under the Sand". Mainstream Hollywood welcomed her back for a turn opposite Robert Redford and Brad Pitt in "Spy Game" (2001), but her career renaissance reached full flower with her remarkable performance in director François Ozon's unconventional French/English film "Swimming Pool" (2003), playing a world-weary British mystery novelist whose getaway to her publisher/ex-lover's home in the South of France is turned upside down by the unexpected arrival of his wild child daughter (Ludivine Sagnier). Rampling delivered a brilliant piece of acting, perfectly capturing her character's unique reawakening. She also had an effective turn as Clive Owens' former lover in director Mike Hodges' noirish "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" (2004).