'She was a sinner like me'

Despite all the controversy, The Passion looks set to become one of the most profitable ever made. Gibson sank $25 million of his own money into it, but it has already made 16 times that - $400 million - at the US box office alone.

Warming to her cause now, Bellucci says: "Mel didn't invent anything in the film; he based it on the four Gospels. It's a film made by a man of faith who portrayed his Christ. Why should an actor and director not be allowed to express his own artistic interpretation? It's something he has held dear for 15 years, his energy is contagious. He has a fire inside him.

"I know many have claimed it's anti-Semitic because it is the Jewish elders who betray Jesus to the Romans. But I don't agree. In the film, only a handful of very powerful Jews are against Jesus. The Romans, who came from a pagan society, are portrayed as far worse.

"But the film goes beyond tensions between Jews and Romans: it's about man and society, about power being in the hands of very few who use it for their own advancement."

In a slightly too desperate attempt to stave off the anti-Semitism claims, Bellucci stresses that on set in the southern Italian town of Matera and Rome's Cinecittà studios, "there were people from all faiths and cultural backgrounds, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists.

"It was emotionally difficult because there were hundreds of us on set for three months and all of our roles involved such turmoil and suffering. Jim's deep personal faith utterly guided him in his role of Christ. He had to endure such physical pain that he almost seemed to inhabit the role."

One thing is inevitable: the film is bound to catapult Bellucci onto the Hollywood A-list. But for the moment she would rather not contemplate the "fame game", as she calls it, for, at three months pregnant, she's full of the thoughts of motherhood.

"I'm so excited," she says. "I didn't want children before because I didn't feel ready. But I always knew motherhood was something I wanted to go through when the time was right. It's harder for women these days to get pregnant, because they often lead the same stressful lives as men."

She is refreshingly old-fashioned ("I like doors being opened for me, I appreciate it when men make a fuss"), and says she has never forgotten her father's advice about men: "Be slightly wary."

Now happily married she says of her husband, with whom she has made several films: "Vincent and I understand each other well and have a great relationship. I draw inspiration from it, but I never feel that I am revealing something intimate of us; it's just acting."

Acting was never her early dream. The only child of a haulage company owner and an amateur painter, she grew up in the town of Città' di Castello, in the idyllic rolling hills of Umbria, and planned to study law in Perugia.

Instead, at 18 she was discovered and started modelling in Milan. She is matter-of-fact about her beauty: "It is a gift, something you don't have to work for. I don't work out and I've never had surgery."

She may need that confidence as she makes the transition from art-house actress to Hollywood big-hitter. Since The Passion she has made three films in a row: Spike Lee's She Hate Me (playing a lipstick lesbian), then Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm, and a thriller, Spybound.

But for now it is The Passion that preoccupies her. "When you leave this film, you ask yourself, 'Why is man still so violent?' I speak as an agnostic and making this film has not changed that, but I find it hard to understand why non-believers would not be interested in the figure of Christ.

"Let's remember, more than anything this film is all about peace; that's its message.''

The Passion of the Christ opens across London tomorrow.