By Rob. Walton

WHO IS SHE?:

France's sexy young star Ludivine Sagnier, 23, is fast becoming an international sensation. The smoldering blonde currently makes a splash as a skinny-dipping sensualist in her English-language debut, Swimming Pool, a carnal mystery in which she seduces a series of men and fascinates an uptight writer (Charlotte Rampling) vacationing on her estate. Next year, she'll appear as a decidedly sexy Tinkerbell in a mature new version of Peter Pan.

WHAT HAS SHE DONE?:

Audiences first noticed her as a buxom 19-year-old in 2000 when she turned up in bra and panties as the hypotenuse of a love triangle in France's ambisexual Water Drops on Burning Rocks. Last year, Ludivine co-starred with international sex symbols Catherine Deneuve, Fanny Ardant and Emmanuelle Béart in the French musical mystery Eight Women. The role earned her the French Oscar. She was the toast of this year's Cannes Film Festival with two movies in competition: Swimming Pool and La Petit Lili in which she plays temptress to an older film director.

WHY DO WE CARE?:

With her tawny mane of blonde hair, that Marlboro-induced rasp and that French-accented growl, Ludivine's a feral screen presence that we don't want to tame.

Playboy.com: Your character's a tomboy in Eight Women, but you co-starred with sex symbols Catherine Deneuve and Emmanuel Béart. Do you aspire to be an international sex symbol like Deneuve?

Ludivine Sagnier: Was Catherine a sex symbol? You should see her now. [Laughs] Sorry. It's something that happens or doesn't, but it's not something you really work for. I'm playing a sexual fantasy in Swimming Pool, so certainly people are going to see me like this, but I don't want to play the sexy girl all the time. I don't think it really suits me.

PB: In Swimming Pool, your character Julie skinny-dips and suntans naked much of the time. Are you so free with your body off screen?

LS: It's actually much more comfortable to swim without a bathing suit. I never go topless on the beach, but if I'm alone in the villa with my sister or my boyfriend, I do.

PB: Were you nervous about acting nude on camera?

LS: I'm much more confident in front of a camera, hidden by a character, enhanced by makeup, so I can go much further than I can in real life. Being naked is quite a natural thing, but it's more the sexual situations. Sexual acting is painful, because even though you're pretending, you have the skin of the person in front of you, and it's not the skin you wish you had. After that you run into the shower to get rid of everything. I felt really dirty after I filmed all of this. It is difficult, but even if you're self-conscious in real life, when you're hidden behind a character you can bare much more.

PB: Is it as common as we Americans imagine for French girls to swim naked?

LS: In France we have the bain de minuit, the "midnight bath." At night in the summer, everybody goes to the sea and gets undressed, but because of the darkness you can't see anybody.

PB: Swimming Pool has a surprising plot twist. What other movies can you compare it to?

LS: The Sixth Sense or Fight Club...maybe more Fight Club. Of course, there's a twist at the end, but you don't really know exactly what's the truth, so it could also be compared to Mulholland Drive, which hovers between fiction and reality. It gives a few clues here and there but never gives all the keys, so you're always a bit lost.

PB: You mention a boyfriend. Are you one of those stars who only dates other actors?

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