The Testament of Ann Lee (2025)
Directed by: Mona Fastvold
Premise: Based on true events. Set in the eighteenth century, Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried) becomes a leader of the Christian sect known as the Shakers. They travel to the United States in search of religious freedom.
What Works: The Testament of Ann Lee is an impressive and in many ways unique production. The film is a period piece and it has a very specific setting, not only recreating eighteenth century life but also depicting people in a peculiar religious sect. As depicted in this movie, the Shakers were so named because of their animated worship style. They also required their members to abstain from all sexual behavior. Those qualities fit together. The scenes of the Shakers in the throes of religious ecstasy have a sexual and orgiastic quality. The Testament of Ann Lee isn’t quite a musical but it definitely has a musical quality in the choreography as well as in the filmmaking especially the camera movement and the editing. This film is about religious devotion and sustaining faith in the presence of violent persecution and betrayal by members of the ingroup. The filmmakers have an empathetic regard for these people and that quality comes across throughout the movie but nowhere more so than Amanda Seyfried’s performance. Like her character, Seyfried is committed to the part and her performance convinces us of Lee’s conviction.
What Doesn’t: The Testament of Ann Lee is a portrait of intense religious devotion but the filmmakers don’t really interrogate faith. The film remains on the surface of its subject. We are witness to Lee’s beliefs but we don’t get any deeper understanding of her or the Shakers. As depicted in the film, Lee was not born into this sect but came to it because the Shaker’s ideas reflected her own. The film doesn’t explore the roots of Lee’s motives or what Shaker theology may have done for her. Nor does the movie convey the intensity of these religious zealots. We observe it from the outside but we don’t get a visceral sense of their passion. The filmmaking style suggests a sexual component to the Shaker’s religious expression but that doesn’t lead anywhere. The Testament of Ann Lee suffers from a common flaw in biographical filmmaking in which anecdotes and incidents are strung together but don’t form a coherent and meaningful whole. The movie doesn’t come to a conclusion so much as it just ends.
Bottom Line: The Testament of Ann Lee has a lot in it that is interesting and well made including a dedicated performance by Amanda Seyfried. It’s ultimately a superficial work that keeps its subject at a distance.
Episode: #1085 (February 1, 2026)