"I have nothing to lose. I have been in 170 films, I have nothing left to prove. I'm not going to hang on like an imbecile," he said. "I'm stopping shooting. I'm leaving it behind and I'm not even drunk, for once."

Depardieu received a Best Actor Oscar nod for 1990's Cyrano de Bergerac and won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy for Green Card that same year. He also picked up an Emmy nomination for producing the 2002 miniseries Napoleon, in which he also starred in the title role.

His agent said the actor, who made his first film in 1967, should not be taken at face value but would be appearing on screen much less than before.

"Depardieu had been saying he would be ending his film career "for 10 years", his agent Claude Davy said.

But Mr Davy confirmed it was likely that he would in future only make about one film every three years.

"He is fed up of cinema,"

"It doesn't amuse him any more. He wants to do deals, he wants to do other things than act."