See-Saw Films is to make new feature film, Death In Her Hands.

It is adapted and directed by David Lowery (A Ghost Story, The Green Knight, Mother Mary), based on the cult novel by Ottessa Moshfegh (My Year of Rest and Relaxation) and stars Tilda Swinton (The Room Next Door, Memoria, We Need To Talk About Kevin, The Eternal Daughter).

The film will be produced by Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Jeanie Igoe; Executive Producers are Simon Gillis and Ann Phillips. Death In Her Hands is an “anarchic whodunnit, an otherworldly psychological thriller, and a striking portrait of a woman striving to take control of her own story.”

While walking in the woods near her new home, recent widow Vesta Gul (Tilda Swinton) comes across a chilling handwritten note: “Her name was Magda. Nobody will ever know who killed her. It wasn’t me. Here is her dead body.” Except there is no body. No blood. Unmoored by the death of her husband and armed only with a camera, her dog Charlie, and her vivid imagination, Vesta becomes obsessed with uncovering Magda’s identity and fate. As her inner world begins to eclipse reality, the mystery of Magda threatens Vesta’s grip on her own life – until, in a spellbinding operatic climax, we realise that Magda’s death may finally allow Vesta to live.

Cross City Films, See-Saw’s in-house sales arm, are teaming up with WME Independent to secure financing at Cannes.

David Lowery said “I am a devoted fan of Ottessa Moshfegh, and the opportunity to translate Death In Her Hands to the big screen has been, in some ways, a subterfuge for getting to spend a great deal of time obsessing over her prose. But now the ruse is up! The script begot by the novel will soon become a film, and I am suddenly aware more than ever that adapting this particular work represents a devious challenge (anyone who’s read the novel will understand why)! But I’m ready for it, and am emboldened to have such wonderful collaborators at my side: the whole team at See-Saw, Jeanie, and of course, the incredible Tilda Swinton, who I know will illuminate Ottessa’s story in ways I could only dream of.”

Producers Iain Canning and Emile Sherman said “David Lowery is a master of crafting striking, atmospheric stories, and there’s no one better to bring Ottessa Moshfegh’s haunting and brilliant novel to the screen. We can’t wait for audiences to step into the world he creates and be swept away by Vesta’s story, played by the incomparable, magnetic, and endlessly compelling Tilda Swinton.”

Tilda Swinton is repped by Hamilton Hodell, CAA and Peikoff Mahan.

David Lowery is repped by WME, ID PR and Victoria Cook at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.