Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he had not heard about "The Wizard of the Kremlin", a film starring Jude Law as the Russian leader that premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

The film by French director Olivier Assayas is a look at Putin's career through the eyes of a fictional political advisor, Vadim Baranov, and is based on a top-selling novel of the same name.

British actor Jude Law, 52, plays Putin in "The Wizard of the Kremlin", one of 21 films competing for the top prize at the Venice Film Festival that runs until Saturday.

Asked about the film and the actor playing him, Putin told a press conference in Beijing with journalists including from AFP that he had not heard about it.

"No, I haven't seen this film. It's even the first time I'm hearing about it. I can't comment because I don't know," Putin told reporters.

Assayas said the film was first and foremost a story about authoritarianism, with Russia's transition from a chaotic democracy in the late 1990s to Putin's modern autocracy a warning for the West.