Los Angeles, Feb 23 (IANS): Actress Monica Bellucci and Tim Burton, the director of 'Edward Scissorhands' seem to be dating, and have been for months under the radar.

The Italian actress, 58, and the 64-year-old film mogul first met 16 years ago, but have been claimed to have started secretly dating four months ago, reports Mirror.co.uk.

It has been said that the pair decided to make their relationship official around the time of the Lumiere Film Festival in Lyon this October, when Monica presented Tim with the Lumiere lifetime achievement award on stage.

As per Mirror.co.uk, after Monica handed over the prize to her reported beau, Tim said during his speech: "All my life put together, I have never felt so much love as tonight. Welcome to the best funeral I ever had!"

The couple were also reportedly spotted together watching the reproduction of Silent Documentary Film, which was directed in 1895 by the late French filmmaker Louis Lumiere. Paris Match reported that the pair "briefly met on the steps of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes in 2006, but it was only sixteen years later, behind the scenes of another festival, that they got closer."

Prior to her alleged relationship with Tim, Monica has not been on the dating since 2019, when she split from artiste Nicolas Lefebvre.