Her first film role was as Isabelle, the semi-incestuous twin in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers, in 2003. Yet she acknowledges that, professionally speaking, she is drawn to roles that are 'evil but damaged. She orders a disappointingly tame berry smoothie rather than a cup of virgin's blood. 'I have a dark side in the way I think everybody has,' Green says, taking off her sunglasses. The overall effect is rather striking: a cross between Miss Havisham and an astonishingly beautiful extra from Twilight. The pale flawlessness of her face is accentuated by jet-black hair and smudged eye-shadow the colour of coal dust. Her tiny frame is swathed in black and dark grey and she is wearing a heavy coat over a lace blouse, jeans and boots. But when Green arrives, it is clear that she is not embracing the joys of spring time. It is a day for white linen and flowing dresses and flip-flops.

The London streets are peppered with cherry blossom and the heady scent of fake tan hangs thickly above the city like ozone. It is a sunny, blue-sky day when I meet the actress Eva Green.