French actress Juliette Binoche has hit back at actor Gerard Depardieu's criticism of her being "a nothing".

Depardieu, 61, had in an interview with Austrian magazine Profil put down Binoche, 46, by saying he would "really like to know why she has been so esteemed for so many years".

"Please can you explain to me what the mystery of Juliette Binoche is meant to be?" the BBC quoted him as having asked.

"She has nothing - absolutely nothing. What has she ever had going for her?" he stated.

Binoche told BBC Radio 4's Front Row programme that she was surprised by the outburst.

"I don't know him and I don't know what I did to him," she said.

"I understand you don't have to like everyone and you dislike someone's work. But I don't understand the violence, in a way.

"But I think it has to do with himself - there's something going on," she added. (ANI)