Audrey Tautou has insisted that she is not a beautiful woman.

The French actress, who stars in The Da Vinci Code alongside Tom Hanks, has complained that her legs are "just like two sticks".

"It was something I hated and obsessed about, just loathed, like the fact that I am so skinny. I don't think I'm ugly. But it's true the adjective 'beautiful' - it doesn't apply to me," she told the Sunday Mirror. "In English you call me 'cute'.

"For me, beautiful women are the ladies who simply shimmer with loveliness. With those kinds of women the first thing you think is 'My God, she's gorgeous!' That's certainly not the kind of looks I have."