Lee, Pitt and Blanchett win awards in Venice

It is Lee's second win in three years - his movie Brokeback Mountain triumphed in 2005.

Pitt was named best actor for his starring role in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, in which he plays the famous 19th century outlaw.

Blanchett won best actress for her extraordinary performance in I'm Not There, as one of six actors playing singer Bob Dylan.

Richard Gere and Christian Bale also appear in the Todd Haynes film but it was Blanchett's role which the critics singled out for high praise.

She is now strongly tipped for Oscars glory.

Neither Pitt nor Blanchett attended the ceremony but the actress sent a message saying that, despite her role as a man, she was sorry she could not be there "weeping just like a woman".

The only British win was best script for Paul Laverty, the screenwriter on Ken Loach's immigrant worker drama It's A Free World.

There were no prizes for British hopes Atonement, starring Keira Knightley, or Sleuth, with Sir Michael Caine and Jude Law.

The surprise best director winner was Brian De Palma for Redacted, his searing documentary-style film about US troops who embark on a rape and murder spree in Iraq.

The Secret of the Grain, from French-Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche, shared the Special Jury prize with I'm Not There.

Legendary director Bernardo Bertolucci was awarded a special Golden Lion for his contribution to cinema.

There were 23 films in contention for the Golden Lion this year.

Lust, Caution is a thriller set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai during the Second World War.

Its sexually explicit content has earned the film an NC-17 rating in the US and it is likely to be heavily cut before the authorities allow it to be screened in China.

Venice is increasingly seen as a precursor to the Oscars.

Last year the best actress prize went to Dame Helen Mirren for The Queen; she went on the win an Academy Award.