The Testament of Ann Lee

A passionate, stylistic, opera-like musical of deep vision and scope, this engaging movie is one of the most idiosyncratic films of the year from the acclaimed duo of co-writer Brady Corbet and his partner, co-writer and director Mona Fastvold, who together delivered 2024’s masterpiece, The Brutalist, except this time Fastvold is in the director’s chair with her directorial debut, The Testament of Ann Lee.

We follow our titular character as we are introduced to young Ann Lee (Esmee Hewett and Millie Rose Crossley), where we see Ann and her younger brother William (Harry Conway) working together at a cotton factory. One night Ann and Lee observe their parents having sex, and it sprawls into Ann becoming more spiritual as she gets older. Years later, the older Ann (Amanda Seyfried) works as a cook at a local sanatorium. Ann, along with her brother William (Lewis Pullman), visits their niece Nancy (Viola Pettijohn) and encounters Quakers Jane (Stacy Martin) and her husband James Wardley (Scott Handy), who preach that the Second Coming of Christ will reveal that God is a woman as they perform spontaneous dancing, shouting, shaking, and singing as a form of worship. They are referred to as the “Shaking Quakers,” and she ends up marrying believer Abraham Standerin (Christopher Abbott). Ann’s sexual apprehensions are worsened by Abraham’s addiction to sex, as he has a fetish for sadomasochism, where he spanks and whips Ann in bed. Ann ends up getting pregnant, and they have kids together, along with some brutal miscarriages along the way.

Ann ends up having a spiritual vision of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and she is certain that the original sin was fornication and humanity should reject sex and marriage. Ann ends up joining a band of other Quakers, and they call themselves the Shakers, and she is convinced that she is the female Messiah, and they rename her “Mother Ann.” This causes controversy among the community, and an angry crowd assaults Ann, Lewis, and the fellow Quakers. They decide to leave England and visit New England. As they sail aboard the Mariah, their spirituality and rituals are ridiculed by the crew. Ann leads the team to do their dance and rituals in severe weather storms, where they end up gaining the respect of the ship crew. They end up arriving in New York City, where they end up finding more religious tolerance and liberty there. They also find a like-minded community there led by Pastor Reuben Wright (Tim Blake Nelson). During the months, Abraham and Ann grow more estranged as Abraham has drifted into alcoholism and alienation from a lack of intimacy.

Viewers of last year’s The Brutalist won’t quite be ready for The Testament of Ann Lee. In many ways, it shares similar aspects to The Brutalist, as it explores the immigrant experience in America, as it shows individuals attempting to achieve their visions in a new land after being persecuted in their homelands. Both films explore trauma, faith, and how legacy is formed. However, Fastvold shows she is every bit as singular of a director. The dance shake choreography is graceful and repetitive, and yet undeniably mesmeric, both withering and unique.

Fastvold’s visual touches are indeed breathtaking; the ship dance sequences are astonishing, followed by a series of other beautiful marionettes with rich narration by Thomasin McKenzie, who plays Ann’s closest friend named Mary Partington. Amanda Seyfried, who has been in musicals before with Les Misérables and Mamma Mia!, performs beautifully, and her emotions do a lot of the film’s heavy lifting, and she delivers a searing, commanding performance. The Testament of Ann Lee, in the end, is a little uneven and a little redundant, and it doesn’t quite reach the masterpiece level of The Brutalist, but it’s undeniably entrancing.

GRADE B+

The Testament of Ann Lee is now playing in theaters.