Her POV: ‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ professes the cost of convictions
Director Mona Fastvold’s “The Testament of Ann Lee” (2025) is an epic musical drama based on the life of Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried), a founding member of the religious sect known as the Shakers, who emigrated from England to spread the gospel in America. Fastvold co-wrote the screenplay with frequent collaborator Brady Corbet. The duo has helmed films such as “The Brutalist” (2024), which earned 10 Academy Award nominations and three wins, including for English musician Daniel Blumberg’s score.
The emergence of a utopian community of ecstatics led by a woman who declares herself the Second Coming of Christ is an inherently thought-provoking story. Seyfried’s spectacular performance elevates the material. She portrays Ann as a staid figure who withstands tribulations but remains steadfast. The film doesn’t shy from depicting the price she pays for her convictions.
As for the musical numbers (which alternatively propel the action and reveal characters’ inner thoughts), they’re so good that, as the film progresses, the viewer finds themself waiting for the next one. Blumberg’s bold renditions of traditional Shaker hymns, matched by Celia Rowlson-Hall’s choreography, are essential to depicting how the Shakers worshipped. The movements not only embody the Shaker ethos of orderliness, but have a self-flagellating quality — a reminder that ecstasy is best enjoyed in moderation and tempered by humility.
Mary Partington (Thomasin McKenzie), one of Ann’s main disciples, narrates the film. Born as one of eight children in 18th-century Manchester, Ann earns her keep as a factory worker alongside her younger brother William (Lewis Pullman), her constant companion and first devotee.
The first act orients us to Ann’s relationship to work and faith, while illustrating her complicated feelings about sex. After Ann witnesses a sexual encounter between her parents, she confronts her father about what she perceives as evidence of his waywardness. He physically disciplines her for her effrontery, the first of many punishments Ann will endure throughout her lifetime.
Ann’s search for spiritual succor leads her to a meeting at the home of local Quakers. Accompanied by William and her niece, Nancy (Viola Prettejohn), she becomes incorporated into the group’s worship sessions, which feature spirited dancing and singing. Through the group, Ann also meets Abraham (Christopher Abbott), a man she is drawn to and eventually marries. Ann is entranced by the group’s belief that Jesus’s Second Coming will be a woman, and while imprisoned for disturbing the peace of a neighboring church service, has a vision that she is the promised Messiah.
As Ann grows into her leadership role as “Mother Ann,” her troubled marriage with Abraham becomes even more dire. The film includes several unsexy sex scenes along with visceral depictions of Ann giving birth to four children, none of whom live past infancy. When Ann declares adherence to the Shaker ethos requires hard work and celibacy, she atones for “lodging” with her husband and thereby failing to honor God. Making the personal political is quite feminist, but unsurprisingly, it is the celibacy requirement that some followers have the most trouble adopting.
Indeed, when Ann and a small crew journey to America, Nancy is banished after being caught lodging with someone. Ann supports Nancy’s choice to marry, but there is no room for partial observance in her belief system. The scene captures two ambiguities at the heart of the film. The first concerns whether Ann’s directive for William to cut his hair is a veiled command to abandon his lover. The second and less satisfying mystery concerns Ann’s feelings about sex. Ann does not ask anyone to abide by rules that she does not also follow, but we’re left wondering whether abstinence presents any challenges for her.
Intriguingly, and deviating from typical portrayals of powerful women, Ann’s beauty is not a tool she uses to influence people. On the promotion trail, Seyfried revealed that Fastvold forbade her from getting Botox while filming. This instruction makes sense considering the number of extreme closeups, as observed in “Hunger & Thirst,” a musical number occurring during one of Ann’s imprisonments. Toward the end of Ann’s life, her face breaks out into a smile while recalling a childhood memory, an echo of her smirk when she is first released from prison. Though frown and laugh lines are the bane of our existence in a youth-obsessed culture, unaltered faces in this film hold memories of joy and sorrow.
Despite critical acclaim, neither Seyfried nor the film secured Academy Award nominations. Perhaps a movie about a woman who maintained moral clarity and lived by her values is a hard sell in this political climate. Ann declares her desire to see tyrannical governments overthrown and all humans granted equal rights. The realization of this vision in our lifetime would be better than any award.
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