Review - The Testament of Ann Lee
Directed by: Mona Fastvold
Written by: Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Lewis Pullman, Thomasin McKenzie
Running Time: 130 Minutes
Rating: 4.5/5
Mona Fastvold transforms the story of Shaker prophet Ann Lee into a feverish, unshakable hymn — part musical, part séance, but wholly unforgettable.
There are films that test your faith in cinema itself, and then there are films like The Testament of Ann Lee — an experience that exponentially works to overwhelm, unnerve and hypnotize until disbelief is no longer matters. Mona Fastvold’s newest feature is a work of art that is both strange and staggering: a contemporary musical that encompasses the life of Shaker prophet, Ann Lee. A film that is all at once a historical diorama, ecstatic hymn and a cinematic seance. Through its sheer conviction, confidence and fearless lead turn from Amanda Seyfried; Mona Fastvold’s Testament is a rapturous epic - a work of faith, frenzy and fervor that will leave audiences shaken.
From the first frame, Fastvold immerses us in a world teetering between the divine and the unhinged. Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried, a true testament of performance) emerges not simply as a founder of faith but as a figure who channels every contradiction of religious devotion: a visionary and zealot, healer and destroyer, savior and victim of her own conviction. Her movement grows not by reason but by rapture — bodies flailing, voices howling, men and women convulsing together in the pursuit of purity. The hymns, adapted and reimagined by Daniel Blumberg, swell into unearthly choruses; these are not songs, but cries. Not rituals, but ruptures. The self-proclaimed “Mother Ann” travels from her humble beginnings in England to the wooded edges of New York state - in search for a perfect paradise for their communal salvation.
Seyfried delivers the most commanding performance of her career. Far removed from her pop musical days of Mamma Mia! Seyfried turns her voice into a crystalline weapon - something searing, spectral and ultimately commanding of passion and possession. Ann is both a prophet and a pariah; a woman unmoored by a deep trauma yet inspired but an unshakable conviction. Her journey pulls her brother, William (a revelatory Lewis Pullman) as her right hand; the travelling preacher spreading word across the land of Mother Ann’s arrival. William is gentle and kind, steadfast in his belief of his sister - one in which he is challenged by Ann’s expansionistic growth, but also hesitant and concerned for her popularity.
The score and musical sequences, adapted from Shaker hymns and song are transfigured by Daniel Blumberg into choral explosions - with Fastvold at the helm, these sequences are the highlight. Extended takes, often shot in wides with a gentle pan across the diorama - the audience is front and centre in each of these musical pieces - with the Shakers’ movements euphoric, unsettling and mesmerizing. The camera lingers long enough to encompass the audience into a feverish passion, all felt real by Ann Lee and her devotees.
An otherwise captivating film, Testament seduces more than it reveals - leaving a little bit to be desired behind Ann Lee’s psychological fanaticism. The set pieces and musical endeavors elevate the film into atmospheric heights - but this may distract one from the intimacy of Ann Lee’s own psyche. It is clear that Ann Lee is driven to lead her flock to salvation - but Fastvold does not dive deep into the innate conflicts of her trauma - to which, some may find a one-note characterization of the prophet. Arguably - maybe this is Fastvold’s point - religious fanaticism is magnetic and hypnotic - maybe the idea of entrapment and psychological ensnarement is truly beyond a rational or simple explaination - it could just be as one-note as we think.
What remains is a film as daring as it is divisive: a hallucinatory hymn, a cinematic séance, and a full-bodied exploration of faith as performance, devotion, and delirium. There is a method to this madness and for the most part, it will leave you a follower.
