The Look (Cannes 2011)

National treasures are ten-a-penny these days. From Stephen Fry to, ahem, Cheryl Cole, people fall over themselves to give various folk that degraded title. Charlotte Rampling is something altogether different. A truly international treasure, her incredible talent and stunning beauty have won vast love and adoration all over the world, and rightly so. Angelina Maccarone's The Look is an unconventional documentary, which through eight chapters successfully strips away the barriers to reveal layer-upon-layer of Rampling the person, and much more besides.

Discussing exposure, age, resonance, taboo, desire, demons, death and love, Rampling talks about her 55 years in the movies and her thoughts on life. Shot as a series of conversations with the likes of photographer Peter Lindbergh and writer Paul Auster, what could have been a tedious exercise in self-indulgence ends up as something quietly remarkable. We learn plenty about Charlotte, while sparingly-sprinkled clips from her career also show why she is so well-regarded. And despite their personal nature, these conversations are universal enough to really hit home.

Cannes is a place where the director is hailed as a god. The auteur. The one man or woman responsible for actualising a singular creative vision. Actors are welcomed for the glitz and the glamour of the photocall, and the wittering about their "craft" in press conferences is indulged for as long as the cameras are rolling. But more than mere stars or vacant muses, actors are key parts of the creative process. As well as being a nifty deconstruction of Rampling and effective exploration of some of life's questions, The Look successfully reclaims cinema for the actor.