Actress Gwyneth Paltrow has begun filming scenes in a movie recreating the love affair between the poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes

The actress, most recently seen in the thriller Possession, is currently shooting scenes in Cambridge.

The �7m Hollywood film, which is partly produced by BBC Films, tells the story of Plath and Hughes' love affair after they met as students at Cambridge University.

The role of the late poet laureate Hughes is being played by Daniel Craig, who appears in Sam Mendes' film The Road To Perdition.

Paltrow's mother, the actress Blythe Danner, is also reported to have a role in the film, as Plath's mother Aurelia.

Sylvia Plath committed suicide in 1963

The head of BBC Films, David Thompson, told The Daily Telegraph earlier this year that the production would avoid "Hollywood schmaltz".

The American-born Plath and Hughes married in 1956, with Plath committing suicide in 1963 after suffering depression.

The pair are regarded as being among some of the world's most famous post-war poets, and their love affair as one of the century's most bittersweet romances.

Plath gassed herself in an oven soon after Hughes left her for another woman.

Ted Hughes was Britain's poet laureate

Some Plath admirers called him a murderer and his name has been hacked off of her gravestone in Yorkshire, northern England, several times.

Hughes, who died of cancer in 1998 aged 68, was opposed to any dramatisation of his life.

A collection of poems published by Hughes in 1998, called Birthday Letters, shed new light on his difficult marriage and brought him sympathy along with rave reviews.

The ever-reclusive Hughes had chosen not to defend himself against a storm of abuse from fans of Sylvia Plath.

He made few public appearances and, until the publication of Birthday Letters, made no comment on his six-year marriage.

The pair's children, Nicholas and Frieda Hughes, will not block the production, which is being directed by New Zealander Christine Jeffs.