However, the roles she chooses seem to mirror her tumultuous personal life.
This month, she stars in I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, a brutal tale
of family revenge in gangland London, directed by Mike Hodges. Clive Owen
plays Will, a former East End villain who, after a nervous breakdown, returns
to exact revenge from those who drove his brother to suicide. Rampling is
Helen, Will’s ex-lover, whose sorrow at being abandoned by him is ever-present
beneath her glacial calm.
‘The only way Helen could go on living after Will left was just to hold
onto a reality – go to work, wear nice clothes. It’s a routine,
it’s going places every night, otherwise you just…’ She breaks
off, sensing the plots similarity to her own story: the infidelity of Jarre
and the suicide of her own sister. ‘Revenge wreaks revenge and it’s
addictive.’ Has she ever felt a similar impulse? ‘I think all healthy
people have. The only reason I dominated was that I was the one who was suffering
(when Jarre was adulterous). If someone does something to you, you’re
left with this rage and hate and pain. You’re forced into a reactive
role. And that I couldn’t bear. I’m much too proud for that. I got
round it by befriending him,’ she says.
© 2004 Will & Co./LAGOON ENTERTAINMENT LTD
"A British Classic. Richly Atmospheric"
- Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter