Final Rating: 4.5/5
Director Mona Fastvold reunites with her co-writer Brady Corbet, on The Brutalist to tell a story of an artistic juggernaut finding a new life in America, trading that previous film’s bleakness for musical ecstasy.
The Testament of Ann Lee is a rapturous account of the life of one of the founding leaders of the Shaker movement in the late 18th century.
Amanda Seyfried plays Lee, a girl raised in the repressive environment of mid-1700s Manchester at a time of religious upheavals. As a young girl, she witnesses the birth of Methodism, which soon gives way to Quakerism, and finally the “Shaking Quakers,” or the Shaker Movement. The Shakers are distinguished by testaments, a ritual by which members of the congregation bare their souls – their sins – followed by prayer dances.
These confessions are the launching point for Testament’s musical numbers. The Shakers are a natural fit for the musical treatment: their movement catalogued over a thousand hymns, and contemporary accounts describe prayer sessions not unlike raves. Shaker prayers could go for days, followers not simply moved but possessed by the Holy Spirit to dance until collapse, and then some more. In the film, confessions blend smoothly into dance, giving way to percussive performances that feel revelatory. As sinners’ transgressions are driven out, they’re replaced with something transcendent, which can only be expressed through unceasing movement.
Daniel Blumberg’s score is euphoric, perfectly mirroring the emotions in the film. As Shakers break into wild song and dance, the music blends old Shaker melodies with Blumberg’s added countermelodies. The film’s most energetic scenes are also its most musically fascinating. As the worshippers bare their souls, so too does Blumberg bare his, as electric guitar riffs burst through the period instruments at the height of several songs. Testament is musically reminiscent of another period musical this year, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, which also used music to bridge the gap between eras.
Seyfried’s performance is phenomenal. Lee starts from humble means, but once she’s introduced to the Shakers, it’s as if she was born to lead them. Seyfried’s speeches are inspired, her deeds infectious. Though much is made of her being a woman preacher – unthinkable to many at the time – each of her sermons proves there’s no one else who could do what she does. No one else could inspire such fervor in her followers.
Lee’s cult of personality is small but passionate. When she proclaims herself the second coming of Jesus Christ, the parallels are obvious.
The movement’s emphasis on hard work and lack of interest in a coming end of the world makes hers an attractive religion in the religiously dense colonies. While the Shakers are arguably a doomed movement, they resist becoming a doomsday movement, growing their ranks as other religious leaders’ world-ending prophecies fail. Of course, her teachings and way of life often put her at odds with the established religious and political leaders, particularly the Congress of the budding United States of America. Near the climax of the film, Lee is branded a traitor to the Revolution on account of her movement’s pacifism.
The film itself seems to revere her: Lee’s methods are rarely questioned, indeed rarely depicted even as questionable. Famously, the Shaker movement requires celibacy, in order that the followers might grow closer to God by forsaking physical lust. The film portrays this choice as being born of Lee’s struggles with assault as a woman in the 18th century. But in a sexless society, sex as a means of oppression ceases to exist. Ideally, celibacy alone goes a long way to establishing equality between the sexes for Shaker communities.
As well, in the absence of physical pleasures, Shakers are encouraged to work hard, which the film shows through the rapid erection of Shaker settlements. The sheer amount of architecture, literature, and art produced by the movement is treated as evidence of its success.
In schools, the Shakers are often treated as a historical curiosity, if they’re mentioned at all. The Testament of Ann Lee pushes back against this by painting a powerful image of their first and greatest prophet. Fastvold and Seyfried’s depiction of Ann Lee is enormous, charismatic enough to inspire passion even hundreds of years later. The film’s credits emphasize that the Shaker movement was always small, but isn’t actually dead. Lee’s vision still directly moves people to worship the way she did.
The Testament of Ann Lee was seen during the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.
