Kate Winslet is taking a year off from acting after playing an emotionally troubled woman in critically acclaimed film Little Children.

The Titanic star decided to take a break after the draining project, so she can spend quality time in her adopted New York with her two children and husband Sam Mendes.

She explains: "Sarah is the hardest part I've ever had to play. The emotional journey the character Sarah goes on is epic - epic for a woman?Sarah is isolated, depressed.

"She feels she lost herself through having a child and marrying the wrong man. She resents the child and has made terrible errors of judgment.

"The challenge was to embrace playing someone so weak."