Festival-goers boo new Rachel Weisz movie

Audiences were left perplexed by the film, which spans 1,000 years and features X-Men star Hugh Jackman as a 16th century Spanish explorer, 21st century scientist and 26th century astronaut searching for the Fountain of Youth in order to save the life of the woman he loves.

The lousy reception was in stark contrast to The Queen, starring Dame Helen Mirren, which festival critics greeted with a five minute ovation. And British-set film Children of Men, with Clive Owen and Michael Caine, premiered yesterday to excellent reviews.

Weisz, 35, was making her first major public appearance since the birth of son Henry Chance in May. Looking slim in a white top and black skirt, she waved for photographers as she arrived on the Lido by motorboat with Aronofsky.

The Fountain is a labour of love for writer-director Aronofsky, 38, who has spent the past six years working on the film. Originally it was set to star Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, but that project fell through.

The 35 million dollar movie (£18.3 million) was turned down repeatedly by movie studios until Warner Brothers decided to back it.

"I think it's wonderful that this film is so different," Weisz said. "I would love to work with Darren again." Aronofsky joked about directing his own fiance in a bathroom sex scene with Jackman.

"I'm a pervert so I had no issue with it," he said. "I enjoy shooting sex scenes very much. She's an actress, he's an actor. It's mostly make-believe, and when you shout cut it's over."

He even urged the pair to make the scene more raunchy by demanding Weisz take off Jackman's trousers - although that particular moment ended up on the cutting room floor.

"They were kissing in the bathtub and he had his pants on, and if it was your husband you would take his pants off," Aronofsky said. "Actually the next take didn't make it into the film because it would have changed the rating."

He added: "To direct Rachel was an amazing thing because we have an intimacy that was able to translate to our work as well. I would be honoured if she'd work with me again but who knows. We'll see if she does."

The film addresses the subject of immortality and spirituality. Weisz's character in the contemporary part of the film is dying of cancer. She researched her role by speaking to young cancer victims and visiting hospices.

"Before I did the movie I was very, very frightened of death should I ever think about it. Doing the movie, because of the place I had to get to mentally and the research I did talking to young people who were dying and people in the hospice movement helping people to die rather than trying to make them live - which is what doctors do - I got to a place where I was all right about dying," she said, admitting: "Now the movie's finished I'm scared again."

Weisz explained: "I didn't really know much about the hospice movement. If I think about someone dying I think about doctors trying to save people's lives. I met doctors and their attitude is that they want to do surgery, they want to give you drugs, they want to save your life.

"In hospices, they actually don't like doctors. They want to help people die with comfort, with ease... to help them relax into death.

"It's not some kind of Eastern mysticism. The hospice movement is in every city in Europe, in the States, in Canada where we filmed the movie. It was very eye-opening to me to meet these people. The workers in hospices just had a very different attitude to death to anyone I had met before, so it was very enlightening."

Unusually, the futuristic scenes in the film were shot without the use of CGI. Instead the film-makers used microphotography, taking images of chemical reactions created in a petri dish and using them as cosmic backdrops to the action.

Aronofsky said: "We didn't want anything to be from a computer. Sci-fi films have become super-dependent on special effects. There are all these high quality movies coming out, that shall remain nameless, and you can't tell if you're watching a cartoon or live action. We wanted to do something that wouldn't look out-of-date by the DVD release."

The film will receive its red carpet world premiere later this evening.