TORONTO (CP) - Keira Knightley has high praise for Quebec director Francois Girard.

"He's a wonderful, wonderful director. He's incredibly calm and he has a real vision of what he wants to do," the rail-thin actress said Tuesday during an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival.

"He had some fantastic producers and a fantastic camera crew who were, I think, predominantly French-Canadian."

Girard, whose acclaimed resume includes 'Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould' and 'The Red Violin,' directed Knightley in the lush period drama 'Silk,' one of two films the 22-year-old actress is promoting at the festival.

Based on the novel by Alessandro Baricco, the film tells the story of a merchant in 19th-century France who turns to smuggling in an effort to get silkworms out of Japan.

Michael Pitt ('Wonderland,' 'Bully') plays the globe-trotting Herve while Knightley is his patient wife, Helene. The role, she said, was an appealing departure for her.

"It's a beautiful story. As far as the character that I play ... she's impossibly good. I'd been playing these incredibly strident women for quite a while and I wanted to play somebody who was very different, who was completely selfless and nearly too good to be true in a funny kind of way," said Knightley.

"I was fascinated that she lived quite an interior life. The whole story, it's incredibly beautiful and very haunting."

Knightley says she'd love to work with Girard again, noting the director played music before filming to set the mood for the cast.

"I thought the way he'd constructed 'The Red Violin' was totally amazing. He's very musical in the way that he directs. He uses a lot of musical influences, which I loved."

The Oscar-nominated Knightley has been a visible figure on the film festival circuit this fall. Her film 'Atonement,' the screen adaptation of the beloved Ian McEwan novel which reunites her with 'Pride and Prejudice' director Joe Wright, recently opened the Venice Film Festival and is also playing in Toronto.

But as she gives interviews about her latest movies, Knightley's super-slim figure has also been under scrutiny. In Venice, Knightley made headlines after a reporter stood up at an 'Atonement' news conference and broached the subject of her weight.

It's a line of questioning that makes the actress bristle.

"I think film festivals are there to talk about movies. ... I'm not there to try to sell tabloid papers," she said Tuesday.

"I didn't think it was a particularly appropriate thing to ask at a festival. ... I think the fact that we'd all made a bet about me being asked about my weight and that it came up is a little depressing, but that's just the way things go."

'Silk' is scheduled to open at the end of October.