TIFF25: “The Testament of Ann Lee” Shakes the Earth
Mona Fastvold was one half of the writing duo behind last year’s American epic, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist. The sprawling piece of film follows the immigration of a Hungarian architect to the United States, where he has a chance to make a mark on the landscape of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Fastvold has now taken the director’s chair in The Testament of Ann Lee, which had its North American premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. She and her writing partner, Corbet, tackle the life of Ann Lee, one of America’s seminal and most religious figures. She lived from 1736 to 1784 and had a massive hand in shaping the Shaker movement.
Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried) was born in Manchester, England, and was the second-oldest child of her parents. She and her younger brother, William (Lewis Pullman), were inseparable as chhildren. Where Ann went, William followed. The family lived near a Manchester church, and Ann often thought that her sole purpose in life was to be a vessel for the teachings of God. A female preacher was almost entirely unheard of at the tim. Almost. As an adult, Ann married Abraham (Christopher Abbott) and the couple tried to have children, but all four were lost in infancy or childhood. It’s because of this and her childhood that Ann believes she is the return of Christ. Ann, along with William, Abraham, and other members of the Shaker movement, decides to take their teachings to the new world of America, a land promised to be free of religious persecution.
You may have watched all three-and-a-half hours of The Brutalist and thought to yourself, you know what would make this better? A series of musical numbers. There’s a lot of shared DNA between The Testament of Ann Lee and The Brutalist in their explorations of fanaticism and a deep search for meaning in a new land. It’s hard to call The Testament of Ann Lee a true blue musical, but it’s also impossible to separate the Shaker movement from their songs and their movement. Sure, the dances of the real Shakers were likely not as mesmerizing and meticulously choreographed as Celia Rowlson-Hall’s were for the film, but there is music in the soul of the story of Ann Lee. The story opens with the Shakers in the woods, their breathing heavy and rhythmic and their limbs moving erratically, yet purposefully. With each of these “musical numbers,” for lack of a better term, The Testament of Ann Lee captures the deep, animalistic passion that guides the Shakers. They want to lead with kindness and community, encouraging their believers to denounce their sins so they can no longer hold power. When these full-bodied performances come about, the catharsis comes through the screen in their maniacal movements that are guided by something larger than themselves.
Seyfried is exemplary as Ann, offering the sort of performance that’s hard to reconcile with the role of Karen in Mean Girls that skyrocketed her to stardom all those years ago. She’s commanding, gentle, and, most importantly, influential. The Shaker movement grew because of Ann and her ability to capture the minds of many. Seyfried throws her entire self into the role as she dances in the name of having something to believe in. As far as Oscar predictions go, it will be hard to find someone who can stop the momentum of Seyfried.
The narrative of The Testament of Ann Lee ends up being more even-handed than The Brutalist, which struggled with pacing and story issues in the second half. As a film that captures the entire life of an individual, The Testament of Ann Lee never feels too dense or like it’s moving too fast. Narration is provided by one of Ann’s believers (Thomasin McKenzie), and this works quite well to fill in the blanks for this figure many likely haven’t heard of before. Ann Lee, despite being largely forgotten, fundamentally shaped many of the belief systems of the United States. She was against slavery, a pacifist, and a supporter of women in leadership roles at a time when that was an unpopular point of view. Ann Lee was not a perfect woman, but in terms of leaders who shaped this nation, she’s someone who should be more widely known. The Testament of Ann Lee is a frantic piece of passion that etches Ann’s name in the history books.