Chaplin has appeared in a wide variety of critically recognised Spanish and French films. She starred in Claude Lelouch's Les Uns et les Autres (1981), the Alain Resnais comedy Life Is a Bed of Roses (1983) and the Jacques Rivette experimental film Love on the Ground (1984). She enjoyed her greatest critical success collaborating with Carlos Saura, starring in several notable films by the Director, including Ana and the Wolves (1973), Cría cuervos (1976), Elisa, vida mía (1977), and Mamá cumple cien años (1979). She collaborated with Pedro Almodóvar in Talk to Her (2002). She was awarded a Goya Award for her role in En la ciudad sin límites (2002), and was nominated again for The Orphanage (2007). Her contribution to Spanish cinema culminated in her being awarded the Gold medal by the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences in 2006.