[2] She subsequently acted in Fellini's 8½ (1963), Jacques Demy's Lola (1961), George Cukor's Justine (1969), Bernardo Bertolucci's Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981), and Robert Altman's Prêt à Porter (1994).

The film "virtually reignited the lush on-screen romance in an era of skeptical modernism", and brought her international fame.

Aimée was known for her "striking features" and beauty, and considered "one of the hundred sexiest stars in film history", according to a 1995 poll conducted by Empire magazine.

Jacques Prévert, while writing Les amants de Vérone (The Lovers of Verona, 1949) specifically for her, suggested she take the symbolic last name Aimée, "that would forever associate her with the affective power of her screen roles.

"[4][7] Among her films were Alexandre Astruc's The Crimson Curtain (Le Rideau Cramoisi, 1953), Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960), Fellini's 8½ (1963), Jacques Demy's Lola (1961), André Delvaux's One Night... A Train (Un Soir, un Train, 1968), George Cukor's Justine (1969), Bernardo Bertolucci's Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981), Robert Altman's Prêt à Porter (Ready to Wear, 1994), and Claude Lelouch's A Man and a Woman (Un Homme et une femme, 1966) — described as a "film that virtually reignited the lush on-screen romance in an era of skeptical modernism.

"[3] Words like "regal," "intelligent", and "enigmatic" are frequently associated with her, notes one author, giving Aimée "an aura of disturbing and mysterious beauty" that earned her the status of "one of the hundred sexiest stars in film history," according to a 1995 poll conducted by Empire Magazine.

"[3] Her abilities as an actress and the photogenic qualities of her face, its "fine lines, expression of elation and a suggestive gaze," helped her achieve success in her early films.

Émile Savitry made an early portrait of her at 15, holding a kitten on the set of Carné's La Fleur de l'âge (1947).

[6] Besides the French cinema, Aimée's career included films made in Spain, Great Britain, Italy, and Germany.

Because of her role in La Dolce Vita, biographer Dave Thompson describes Aimée as a "rising star who exploded" onto the film world.

He adds that singer-songwriter Patti Smith, who in her teens saw the film, began to idolise her, and "dreamed of being an actress like Aimée.

"[6] She starred in the American film production of Justine (1969), costarring Dirk Bogarde and directed by George Cukor and Joseph Strick.

Photojournalist Eve Arnold, assigned to photograph and write a story about Aimée and her role, spoke to Dirk Bogarde, who had known her since she was fifteen.

A month later, after a chance meeting with Aimée in Paris, he changed his mind, telling his producer, "I can fall in love with the older woman.

"[13] Robert Altman, at another time, wanted to use Aimée in a film to be called Lake Lugano, about a woman who was a Holocaust survivor returning long after the war.

[23] The Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw wrote in an obituary for her that "The enigma, sensuality and vulnerability of Aimee's screen persona are all there in essence – and above all the loneliness that comes with beauty."

Aimée radiated an enigmatic sexual aura flavoured with melancholy, sophistication and worldly reserve" and "had a unique screen presence that was at once alluring and forbidding"[24] He wrote about her role in La dolce vita that actress's "natural hauteur made her a natural for the role and, with her airy detachment and beauty, could be said almost to have invented Italian cinema's modish ennui which Michelangelo Antonioni later developed.