Audrey Diwan is set to direct The Marriage Portrait, based on the novel by award winning Coleraine writer Maggie O’Farrell.

The film will be produced by Dublin-based Element Pictures, which has three films in Cannes’ selection this year. The company is best-known for working with Yorgos Lanthimos on his last five features, including the recent multi-award winner Poor Things, in collaboration with Italy’s Wildside.

Published in 2022, The Marriage Portrait is set in 1500s Florence and follows the story of duchess Lucrezia de’ Medici, who has only ever known the setting of the city’s grandest palazzo. During a visit to a country villa with her husband, she realises that he intends to kill her.

Following the post-production of her adaptation of the novel Emmannuelle, Diwan will be writing the script for The Marriage Portrait alongside Marcia Romano, with whom she previously collaborated on Venice Golden Lion-winning film Happening.

Speaking to Variety, Diwan said: “I was drawn to this novel that’s inspired by a true story and I envision it as a gothic fable with this castle and the atmosphere of fear,” adding that she had bold ideas for the film’s artistic direction.