Lancel bags Zhou Xun

Have you ever thought of the similarity between French actress Isabelle Adjani and Chinese actress Zhou Xun?

Both are intelligent and dedicated actresses admired and scrutinized by their countrymen. Adjani won four Cesar Awards between 1981 and 1994 while Zhou has so far swept all of China's film awards including the Hundred Flowers Awards known as China's Academy Awards, the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Taiwan Golden Horse Film Awards.

Both are small and delicate beauties with large and deep eyes, dark hair and porcelain skin. Their fragile looks suit them for roles as emotionally or physically exploited women. Intensity, the fierce wounded stare of a woman at once independent and painfully vulnerable, is the essence of their screen persona - and, on all the evidence, of themselves.