Women who dared to bare all for charity were the toast of the Cannes Film Festival last night after the movie depicting their journey from cake stand to calendar was hailed a triumph.

The first official screening of the film, Calendar Girls, wowed critics from all sides of the globe and is being praised as the female Full Monty.

But while Hollywood pulled out all the glitzy stops for the launch of its big new movie - Matrix:Reloaded - the Calendar Girls opted for something rather more sedate.

They threw a very British tea party complete with cucumber sandwiches and strawberry scones.

Earlier, the star-studded cast, including Julie Walters and Helen Mirren, posed for pictures on the beach at Cannes with real life calendar pin-ups from North Yorkshire, Tricia Stewart and Angela Baker.

Calendar Girls, which is released in September, relates the story of 11 ladies of the Rylstone Women's Institute who shed their clothes to raise more than £650,000 for lymphoma and leukaemia research in 1999.

The calendar, portraying the middle-aged women doing household jobs with their modesty covered by a strategically placed jam jar or flower pot, has generated huge international interest.

Helen Mirren paid tribute to the women, saying: "What they did was fantastic.

"They hit upon a brilliant idea that captured the imagination of everyone who saw the calendar. It's just a shame more of them couldn't be here."

Tricia Stewart, 53, said she was delighted with the film.

"They got the heart of the characters and the reasons why we did it, and they got the heart of the Dales," she said.

All of the women's royalties from the film will go to the Leukaemia Research Fund. They hope to top £1m.