Australian actress Cate Blanchett is set to play one of the two leads in a film version of Patricia Highsmith’s lesbian classic The Price of Salt.

The drama will be retitled Carol after the lead character in The Price of Salt, a novel which became notorious in 1952 because of its lesbian content.

It shocked audiences because of the happy ending for the two women. It was previously common in literature for any homosexual character to die, convert, or to live in misery by the end.

Film producer Elizabeth Karlsen said: ‘It’s a heartbreaking, wonderful story that has you on the edge of your seat.’

Also starring will be Mia Wasikowska, a fellow Australian who found fame in Tim Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland.

Lesbian romances have seen a new resurgence in mainstream cinema. In 2010, Annette Bening and Julianne Moore starred as a married couple in the Golden Globe winning The Kids Are All Right, which also starred Wasikowska.

Film producer Elizabeth Karlsen said: ‘We've come a long way since Dirk Bogarde starred in Victim. We've had Brokeback Mountain, A Single Man, Far From Heaven – and President Obama came out in support of gay marriage.’

Carol will be adapted by Phyllis Nagy and directed by John Crowley, and will start filming in February 2013.