Sean Connery's kissing was rated ''11-and-a-half out of 10'' by his Entrapment co-star Catherine Zeta Jones in Cannes yesterday.

Asked how he felt about kissing Zeta Jones for the action thriller, Connery smiled: ''It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it.''

The pair brought some much-needed glamour to the Cannes festival as they backed last night's showing of the film, which has already topped the American box office and opens in Britain soon.

Entrapment has been selected as the star-studded special screening, chosen to brighten the festival this year. Zeta Jones, 29, wore a lemon sequinned gown for the press conference.

It was she who spoke up to answer the criticism that Sean Connery, who is 68, should not be partnered with such a young co-star. ''If a relationship works on screen it does. He's Sean Connery, what can you say?'' she said.

Zeta Jones said: ''I have had a great run of kissing men, really, and out of them all, on a scale of one to 10, he's 11-and-a-half.''

Mr Connery said he wanted her in the film from the beginning. ''When I met her in Rome, I knew she was the girl.

''She's a tremendous girl. She has a great sense of comedy, and she's not bad looking.''

A retrospective of Connery's films is being shown at the festival, and he was asked how he felt about always being identified with James Bond. ''I can't sleep at night,'' he said.

Meanwhile, Ewan McGregor dodged crowds by arriving at his pier-end photocall by boat. When the hundreds of photographers shouted for his attention, he threw them V signs and teased: ''When you all shout at once I can't hear you.''

McGregor was in Cannes to push Nora, a small-scale film he is co-producing with his company Natural Nylon.