The Testament of Ann Lee

Mona Fastvold’s exhilarating third feature is a speculative telling of the founder of the Shakers movement, whose preaching of the primacy of collectivity and celibacy as well as her pronouncements of God-as-woman earned her societal accusations of heresy, and brewing internal conflict among her congregation.

In 18th century Manchester, the life of the uncommonly headstrong Ann Lee is changed forever by an encounter with a group of devout Quakers, known for their rapturous spiritual practice. After the birth and death of all four of her children, she moves to the US to lead an offshoot, named the Shakers. Lee has visions of the Second Coming in which God takes the form of a woman, and in the face of accusations of witchcraft and heresy, she calls for a utopian philosophy of self-sustenance and racial- and gender-equality, underpinned by spiritual devotion in the form of trance-like shaking practices.

Amanda Seyfried gives an incredible performance as the titular character in this multilayered biopic that combines historical retelling with 12 choral hymns of collective ecstacy rendered through dance and song, to a thrillingly hypnotic effect. With a supporting cast including Thomasin McKenzie, Christopher Abbott, Lewis Pullman and Stacy Martin, Fastvold (The World to Come, IFFR 2021) brings her and Brady Corbet’s script to vivid life, propelled by the extraordinary work of Oscar-winning composer Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist, IFFR 2025) and choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall (MA, IFFR 2016).

– Michelle Carey 

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