@Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures
After having directed her in the TV Series The Crowded Room (Apple TV+) and Long Bright River (Peacock), the Norwegian filmmaker Mona Fastvold teamed up again with Academy Award nominated star Amanda Seyfried (Mank) for an historical drama set in the XVIII Century and centered of the leader of the radical religious group known as Shakers. But in its core, in its powerful soul, The Testament of Ann Lee is a musical: what makes the movie distinguishing itself from others of the same genre is the idea of turning the several scenes of praying into musical moments, conveying the audience the strength, the energy and the deep emotional connection of those moments.
When Ann Lee, alone or together with the other characters, raises her words and uses her body to find a dialogue with God, then the movie often becomes a truly cinematic experience. It is almost impossible not to feel the pain, the faith, the will to keep enduring despite all the difficulties that the world throws at them. In order to achieve this, Mona Fasvold desperately needed a protagonist capable of delivering it, and she found it in Amanda Seyfried. This is the performance that can define a career: she is believable when portraying the religious fervor of Ann Lee, her aura of mysticism, so even if you don’t share her beliefs, you can definitely participate in her suffering. And when Seyfried starts singing and dancing, that’s when the struggle elevates itself to a higher form of art, making this movie truly emotionally valuable.
In order to follow the true story of Ann Lee and she Shakers, the screenplay written by Mona Fastvold and Brady Corbet struggles in many parts to keep the rhythm of the storytelling acceptable: there are a few weak, if not boring moments in the movie, especially once the groups moves from England to the colonies in America. Most importantly, the last twenty minutes of The Testament of Ann Lee are surprisingly anti-climatic, and this makes the whole operation less effective than it could have been, developing a more emotional ending. Same thing for the cast: Mona Fasvold had the chance to use the craft of highly talented actors like Thomasin McKenzie, Christopher Abbott and Tim Blake Nelson, but she assigned them characters that are not fully developed, so you can have a hint of their talent but not completely experience it. On the other hand, other colleagues like Lewis Pullman and Stacy Martin have bigger roles but struggle to make them emotionally memorable.
@Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures
Mona Fastvold had a brilliant idea when she decided to make The Testament of Ann Lee a musical, but then she chose to mix this garner with an historical reconstruction of the true story of Ann Lee that in some way damaged the original plan. This way her feature film is many things, actually too many things, when a more simple but straight to the point approach would have probably been more effective.
It is the same problem that her previous movie The World to Come had. Visually precious – special mention to the cinematographer William Rexer and the composer Daniel Blumberg – The Testament of Ann Lee has too many ups and downs in the tone to be conceived as a wholly achieved project. Nonetheless it is a good movie, because when it hits the lyricism of the musical scenes, it truly stands out with some great moments of contemporary cinema. In many ways, we consider this the best musical we’ve seen in 2025.
And again, Amanda Seyfried’s performance alone is worth the entire movie: after achieving a Critics Choice Association and Golden Globe nominations for the performance, we truly hope she will nail an Academy Award nomination as well, because she totally deserves it. And we wouldn’t be too surprised if in the end she’d get some price as well…
@Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures
Rate: B-
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Here’s the trailer for The Testament of Ann Lee: