A musical biopic fittingly composed of religious ballads, The Testament of Ann Lee chronicles the life of its eponymous 18th century religious leader, played with tremendous passion by Amanda Seyfried. It spans several decades and traces Ann’s travels from Manchester to New York as well as the newly-invented religious dogmas that guided her journey. It’s a film of spiritual ecstasy that lives on the edge of realism – for better and for worse – while mythologizing an oft-forgotten historical figure whose unusual beliefs about celibacy had altruistic ends, making for a particularly compelling experience.
Directed by The Brutalist co-writer Mona Fastvold and co-written by that film’s director and other co-writer, Brady Corbet, The Testament of Ann Lee arrives with all the lush historical detail you’d expect, made even more inviting by William Rexer’s 70mm cinematography. It begins with a decontextualized vista of women in bonnets and religious robes moving rhythmically in the woods in the late 1700s. This image, removed from time, is all that’s known to most people about the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, also known as the “Shakers,” a particularly enduring Christian sect – their number recently rose to 3. Ann was once their prophet, one of the rare female figures of such importance at the time.
One of these dancing women, Mary Partington (Thomasin McKenzie), is both a key supporting character in the film as well as its narrator, providing conflicting accounts of Ann’s life but ultimately deciding which parts of her story are worth telling… and believing. It’s a film about the reinterpretation of doctrine that is itself reinterpreted for the audience by a woman invested in making Ann (affectionately called “Mother” by her worshippers) seem like the Second Coming. Regardless of what the filmmakers themselves believe – Fastvold was raised in a secular household – they present The Testament of Ann Lee as though it were an article of faith, making it particularly intoxicating.
