Renee Zellweger

Is it easy to imagine yourself in a similar situation to Bridget where you're torn between two men?
Relationships are always difficult although I've never really faced the kind of problem Bridget has, although it could be a nice problem to have (laughs).

Often we have this idealised conception of what a relationship should be like and then the reality is something different and you have to go through an adjustment process. So that's part of what Bridget is going through.

Is the Hugh Grant character symbolic of women being attracted to more dangerous men?
It's hard to know what specifically attracts you - you can't always reduce it to one thing. There is something about men who are more mysterious or charismatic which obviously attracts women - I'm sure the reverse is true, too. It gets even more complicated when the thing which makes someone attractive is also the thing which may make that person completely wrong for you.

So attraction can be a double-edged sword. We can easily find ourselves drawn to men who seem incredibly sexy and mysterious even when we know that they might be the kind to cheat on us and not be very respectful of who we are.

Do women like Bridget become less idealistic about romance as they get older because of bad experiences with men?
Oh, there's always the tendency to become more cynical if you've been through a number of relationships and particularly if some of them have turned out badly. Very few of us escape that. But we have to learn to understand ourselves and the way we approach relationships better. It's sad, but it's very hard to avoid those romantic highs and lows and in order to find our true love we have to keep looking and trying. I guess I'm pretty idealistic about love in that sense.

So women like Bridget shouldn't be forced to give up their idealism about romance even if she finds relationships difficult to handle?
No. As soon as you close yourself off to romance you're cheating yourself of one of the most beautiful experiences there is in life, which is to fall in love and be in love with someone.

It's the one subject in life which always obsesses us because it's so powerful and enrapturing. We also learn more about it every time we experience it - even just from standing at a distance and observing how we approach relationships we can know what it is that can make love last. So you have to keep your heart open.

What about your own romantic involvements of late?
Nothing very successful of late, I'm sorry to say. But I don't really worry about that because I think you just can't predict when you're going to find that ideal someone. I'm not in a hurry. It'll just happen when I'm not expecting it. I don't know!