"If Love Should Die", a new feature film on the life of Mary Wollstonecraft, will shoot across Ireland, as well as other European countries in the coming months.
The major international production from acclaimed French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve was announced at the Toronto International Film Festival and has been reported on Deadline.
The intimate and epic period drama tells the remarkable story of pioneering writer and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) with Norwegian actress and Sentimental Value star Renate Reinsve in the lead role.
Johnny Flynn, Vicky Krieps, and Charlie Kelly have also been cast in the film.
The production is set to shoot across Ireland, Norway, Sweden, France and Spain over the coming months.
The project has a particular Irish connection. Although Wollstonecraft was born in London, her mother Elizabeth Dixon came from Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, giving the celebrated writer strong Irish roots. Wollstonecraft herself also spent a formative period in Ireland, working as a governess to the daughters of the Anglo-Irish Kingsborough family.
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Set during the Enlightenment and on the eve of the French Revolution, "If Love Should Die" follows Wollstonecraft’s passionate and unconventional life, from her determination to establish herself as a writer, to her relationships with editor Joseph Johnson, Gilbert Imlay and William Godwin, with whom she had her daughter, future Frankenstein author Mary Shelley. The film will also explore her relationship with contemporary writer Elizabeth Inchbald.
Mia Hansen-Løve describes the film as a project that is “particularly close to my heart” and a “huge challenge”, bringing Mary Wollstonecraft to the screen for the first time.
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Speaking about the film, Irish Producer Patrick O’Neill, Wildcard, said: “It’s such a thrill to be going into production on 'If Love Should Die', a film very close to my heart, given that Mary Wollstonecraft’s mother and I are from the same small Donegal town of Ballyshannon. Mia and Renate are incredible talents, and I have no doubt the film is going to be very special.”
The film is produced by Wildcard together with Intake Films, Les Films Pelleas, Elastica Films, Mer Film , and Caspian Films and is backed by RT Features and Anonymous Content with support from Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, alongside a range of European film funds and broadcasters.
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