Emma Thompson has said she doesn't believe in "free love" - but it might be a good idea for couples to take a "sabbatical" every so often.

The British actress has been happily married to actor Greg Wise since 2003.

She said her latest film, The Love Punch, in which she co-stars with Pierce Brosnan as a former husband and wife, got her thinking about couples taking a break.

"It's actually not a bad idea to say, 'OK, just for a year, you need to go off'," she said.

"Not be with other people - I think that's very difficult, all that free love stuff which has been tried and tested and proven to be very, very tricky.

"But it's interesting that two people who know each other very well come back together again and love each other in a different way, a better way."

But the star said she was not referring to her own home life.

"I'm not talking about myself. I'm talking in general about long-term relationships," she said.

The 55-year-old has previously branded having Botox injections "psychotic" and has not changed her mind on the issue.

"It's mad. It's not a normal thing to do, and the culture that we've created that says it's normal, is not normal," she said.

"Why do people ask persons to cut them open and put things into their body? What is that, what are we doing to ourselves? It's chronically unhealthy and there's this very serious side to all of that because we're going to end up with this sort of 'super-culture' that's going to suggest to young people, girls and boys, that this looks normal. And it's not normal."

:: The Love Punch is in cinemas now.