Mary Wollstonecraft is not exactly the kind of historical figure who usually gets the glossy prestige-biopic treatment. Perhaps that’s what makes her a draw and intriguing subject for Mia Hansen-Løve. The French filmmaker behind “Things to Come,” “Bergman Island,” and “One Fine Morning” has been preparing “If Love Should Die,” an English-language period drama about the pioneering 18th-century writer, philosopher, and women’s rights advocate, and the project now appears to have its lead.
READ MORE:’ Fjord’ Review: Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve Are Terrific in Cristian Mungiu’s Understated and Distancing Drama [Cannes]
Oscar nominee Renate Reinsve is tipped to star as Wollstonecraft, with Deadline reporting that her involvement surfaced during Cannes while the Norwegian actor was on the festival circuit. Reinsve is also at Cannes this year with Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord,” which stars her opposite Sebastian Stan.
Hansen-Løve wrote “If Love Should Die,” which follows Wollstonecraft during the final stretch of her life, tracing the radical thinking, political conviction, and personal restlessness that made her one of the defining feminist voices of the Enlightenment. Wollstonecraft is best known for “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” her 1792 treatise arguing for women’s education and social equality, and was also the mother of Mary Shelly, the famous author of “Frankenstein.”
The film’s official synopsis places the story “on the eve of the French Revolution,” centered on “an impoverished young Englishwoman” who decides to live according to Enlightenment ideals. Cameras are expected to roll this summer in the United Kingdom, France, Scandinavia, and Portugal, with MUBI producing and co-financing alongside Arte France Cinéma.
For Reinsve, the role would continue a run that has steadily pushed her beyond the breakout heat of Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World.” Since that Cannes-launched breakthrough, she has moved through projects including “Armand,” the Academy Award-nominated “Sentimental Value,” and now “Fjord,” maintaining a foothold in European auteur cinema while drawing increasing attention outside Norway.
For Hansen-Løve, “If Love Should Die” sounds like a natural extension of the emotional and intellectual terrain she has explored for years: women wrestling with desire, work, family, art, and the gap between principle and lived experience.
No release date has been announced yet, but if this one comes together, it’ll certainly be one of our most anticipated collaborations of that year.
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
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