Following its world premiere on the Venice Worldwide Movie Competition, Mona Fastvold’s interval piece biopic The Testomony of Ann Lee, starring Oscar nominee Amanda Seyfried, has gained an ideal rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is a speculative depiction of the lifetime of Ann Lee, a non secular chief and founding father of the 18th-century Shakers spiritual sect.
The Testomony of Ann Lee is the anticipated return of filmmaking duo Fastvold and her companion Brady Corbet. Fastvold and Corbet wrote Ann Lee collectively, like they beforehand did with 2024’s The Brutalist, which was directed by Corbert and went on to win three Academy Awards. Utilizing some actual Shakers music, Ann Lee is a sort of distinctive film musical.
Thus, it options music composed by the Oscar-winning Daniel Blumberg and choreography by Celia Rowlson-Corridor. Additionally starring Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Stacy Martin, Tim Blake Nelson, and Christopher Abbott, The Testomony of Ann Lee at the moment holds a 100% critics’ approval score on Rotten Tomatoes, aggregated from 11 opinions.
Critics have largely optimistic issues to say about Ann Lee‘s daring genre-bending and execution. Damon Sensible of Deadline Hollywood Day by day, as an illustration, says: “Although she’s clearly some sort of fruitcake, Ann has optimism, compassion and life, which Fastvold reveals in a sequence of mesmerizing musical numbers taken from actual Shaker scriptures.“
Then again, David Ehrlich of IndieWire means that that is even a case for extra films like this: “In a way, The Testomony of Ann Lee is a celebration of — after which in its much less rhapsodic second half, a plea for — the situations required to make a film like The Testomony of Ann Lee.”
What These Opinions Imply For The Testomony Of Ann Lee
As a hopeful awards season contender, The Testomony of Ann Lee is off to a terrific begin. Following The Brutalist being one of the acclaimed movies of final yr, Fastvold and Corbet are well-established as A-list filmmakers, and it looks as if they’re primed to tackle the Oscars as soon as once more. Notably, Robbie Collin of Day by day Telegraph (UK) says:
Comparisons to The Brutalist are inevitable… The free-range majesty and fine-grained, muddy-fingernailed element of Fastvold’s movie, although, is solely its personal factor: like Ann, I used to be left wobbly and breathless by its grandeur and nerve.
To date, Ann Lee‘s important opponents at Venice have not been in a position to match it: The Smashing Machine made a splash, nevertheless it did not obtain the coveted good rating, whereas Julia Roberts’ After the Hunt debuted with an underwhelming rating. Although some critics seem confused by it, they nonetheless reward Ann Lee, which is able to permit it to go far.
Our Take On The Testomony Of Ann Lee’s RT Rating
Whereas nothing is ready in stone but for Ann Lee — solely 11 folks have gotten to evaluation it — it has garnered lots of consideration that can construct anticipation for it at extra movie festivals and a theatrical launch. How basic audiences react to this film will decide what it in the end turns into within the zeitgeist moderately than simply its crucial standing.
Given its musical premise, it may very well be a well-liked trendy basic. 2025 additionally appears to be a terrific yr for films that experiment with style. Whereas I might nonetheless say that the historic semi-musical motion horror Sinners has a greater shot at Greatest Image than The Testomony of Ann Lee, it is great to see the business being receptive to completely different initiatives.
The Testomony of Ann Lee
8/10
- Launch Date
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September 1, 2025
- Runtime
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130 minutes
- Director
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Mona Fastvold
- Writers
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Brady Corbet
- Producers
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Viktória Petrányi, Lillian LaSalle, Megan Ellison, Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska, Patrick Chu, Joshua Horsfield, Adam Paulsen, Andrew Morrison, Mark Lampert, Kyle Stroud, Scott Aharoni, Saskia Gigi Duff, Michael D’Alto, Tom Ogden