Renate Reinsve will portray 18th-century writer and women’s rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft in Mia Hansen-Løve’s upcoming period drama If Love Should Die, with Johnny Flynn and Vicky Krieps also joining the cast.
Goodfellas has come on board to handle international sales of the film, which is set to launch at the Toronto International Film Festival. The project is expected to attract significant attention from European buyers.
Reinsve will lead the cast alongside Flynn and Krieps, with Charlie Kelly, Will Keen, Tom Sturridge and Jane Beever also attached to the production.
The film is an international European co-production involving Ireland, France, Norway, Spain and the UK. Anonymous Content and RT Features are backing the project, while Anonymous Content will co-represent North American rights with CAA Media Finance.
The film marks another major project for Reinsve following her appearance opposite Sebastian Stan in Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2026. She also recently starred in Sentimental Value, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
Flynn and Krieps most recently appeared together in The Idiot(s), directed by Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert, which premiered at Telluride. Flynn’s other recent credits include A Prayer for the Dying and Elsinore, while Krieps has appeared in Jim Jarmusch’s Father, Mother, Brother, Sister and the Cannes 2025 drama Love Me Tender.
First announced in 2024, If Love Should Die will explore the final 12 years of Wollstonecraft’s life. One of the most influential thinkers of the Enlightenment, Wollstonecraft was a writer, philosopher and early advocate of women’s rights. She was also the mother of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley.
Set in England shortly before the French Revolution, the film follows Wollstonecraft as a young and financially struggling woman attempting to build an independent life. After losing her position as a governess, she decides to support herself through writing, pursuing a career that challenges the expectations placed on women at the time.
The project will be Hansen-Løve’s first English-language feature since Bergman Island, her 2021 Cannes-selected drama starring Krieps and Mia Wasikowska. The French filmmaker has directed eight features, including Things to Come, which earned her the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival.
Filming will take place in the UK and several other European locations, including France, Portugal, Norway and Sweden.
Hansen-Løve will reunite with regular collaborator Marion Monnier, who will edit the film. The creative team also includes acclaimed cinematographer Claire Mathon, known for Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Spencer and Saint Omer; production designer Mela Melak, whose credits include A Real Pain and High Life; and costume designer Louise Stanton, who worked on The Quiet Girl.
“I’m thrilled that I’m finally able to make the film I’ve been preparing for a long time and that is particularly close to my heart,” Hansen-Løve said. “It’s a huge challenge: bringing Mary Wollstonecraft to the screen for the very first time.”
She added that she was especially pleased to be working with Reinsve and the wider creative team on the project.
The production brings together producers from across Europe, including David Thion of Paris-based Les Films Pelléas, Patrick O’Neill and Conor Barry of Ireland’s Wildcard, María Zamora of Spain’s Elastica Films, Maria Ekerhovd of Norway’s Mer Film, and Joshua Horsfield and Saskia Duff of the UK’s Intake Films.
Additional producers include Thembisa Cochrane and Georgie Paget of Caspian Films, while Philippe Martin of Les Films Pelléas serves as associate producer.
The film is financed by RT Features, Anonymous Content, Leone Film Group, Artists Haven and Nightjar Films, with MUBI having supported the project’s development.
It is co-produced by Film i Väst, Arte France Cinéma and The Match Factory, in collaboration with Bayerischer Rundfunk and ARTE.
If Love Should Die has received support from Eurimages, the Norwegian Film Institute, Screen Ireland, the UK Global Screen Fund, the BFI and National Lottery, among other European film institutions and broadcasters.
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