Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie leaving Tetou, an elegant but casual Michelin-starred fish restaurant on the beach in Golfe Juan, on May 15.

While discussing the role he plays in his new film The Tree of Life, Brad Pitt talked openly about his childhood and the kind of father he tries to be.

He said: "I got brought up being told things were God's way, and when things didn't work out it was called God's plan.

"I've got my issues with it. Don't get me started. I found it very stifling," Pitt says of his strict Christian upbringing.

However, Pitt - who plays a very controlling father figure in The Tree of Life - explained he is keen for his children - Maddox, nine, Pax, seven, Zahara, six, Shiloh, four, and two-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne - to see their own upbringing in a positive light, and thinks about how they will feel in everything he does.

"I think of everything I do now that my kids are going to see when they grow up and how are they going to feel," the star, 47, told reporters Monday at the Cannes Film Festival. "But they know me as a dad and I hope they'll just think of me as a pretty damn good actor."

Gallery: see Angelina, Brad and other stars as they shine on the red carpet at Cannes

Pitt is joined at the festival by Angelina Jolie, who is in town to promote Kung Fu Panda 2, and their children. But the couple managed to enjoy a date night despite their busy schedules. On Sunday they dined at Tetou, an elegant but casual Michelin-starred fish restaurant on the beach in Golfe Juan.

Jolie, who wore a three-quarter-length white dress, and Pitt, in a black jacket and open-necked white T-shirt, were mobbed by photographers as their left the restaurant.