The Testomony of Ann Lee comes from the workforce behind final yr’s Greatest Image-nominated The Brutalist, with a screenplay co-written by Mona Fastvold and Brady Corbet, so it’s no shock that it is a visible and thematic delight.
Utilizing gorgeously tactile movie grain to color an idyllic portrait of 18th Century America, The Testomony of Ann Lee goes on to tear down the partitions of this false idealism with a pointy, politically charged story. Although it feels as if Fastvold and Corbet are holding themselves again by merely brushing over a few of the plot’s most compelling concepts, their story remains to be a fascinating one.
Ann Lee is an interesting determine; not simply the mom of the Shaking Quakers’ motion, however a posh lady in her personal proper whom Amanda Seyfried brings to life with fierce empathy and staggering emotional vary. The movie is an overt character examine, focusing unflinchingly on Ann Lee’s perspective (maybe to the movie’s detriment) and utilizing her to discover the better themes of faith, womanhood, and sexuality.
The Testomony Of Ann Lee’s Story Has Deep Thematic Resonance
Mona Fastvold’s commanding drama is greater than a biographical story. Although it charts the historic data of Ann Lee’s journey to America, and her subsequent makes an attempt to share her spiritual imaginative and prescient with the colonies, the movie makes use of this particular journey to mirror one thing common. It’s a catalyst for a richer, extra thematic dialogue of faith, trauma, and the customarily irrevocable bond between the 2.
Fastvold’s movie opens with a subtitle; The Testomony of Ann Lee, or, The Lady Clothed with the Solar with the Moon Beneath Her Ft. The verse is lifted straight from the E-book of Revelations, evoking imagery typically used to check with the second coming of Christ. And but, Ann Lee is not a very spiritual movie.
There’s no dialogue of whether or not the Shakers are a respectable department of Christianity, or how correct the historic data of Lee’s spiritual expertise are. The movie is far more taken with how Lee’s spiritual fervor is cast by the trauma and grief that she undergoes at such a younger age, sparking an interesting dialogue concerning the hyperlink between religion and struggling.
The Testomony Of Ann Lee Options A Sensational Amanda Seyfried Efficiency
Whether or not Ann Lee’s free-flowing discussions of spiritual devotion resonate, the one factor we are able to agree upon is that Amanda Seyfried turns in career-best work on this wealthy, demanding function. Not solely does she should mirror such uncooked, weak grief and struggling, however Ann Lee’s musical numbers additionally demand a really bodily, somatic efficiency.
The defining facet of Shaker worship, no less than from an outdoor perspective, is the denomination’s distinctive “dance” that permits them to launch their grief and be cleansed by God. There’s quite a lot of this physicality in Ann Lee — to the extent that it might generally be repetitive and dreary — however the musical set items are directed with such precision and fluidity that you may virtually really feel the identical liberating spirit flowing by way of the viewers.
She delivers one of many strongest performances of the whole yr on this movie, and it might be tragic to see her go unrewarded.
There got here a second throughout certainly one of Seyfried’s many emotional musical numbers after I may virtually see her Oscar reel taking type in entrance of me. Then it occurred once more, and once more, and once more. She delivers one of many strongest performances of the whole yr on this movie, and it might be tragic to see her go unrewarded.
The Testomony Of Ann Lee Feels Skinny & Underdeveloped At Occasions
Whereas Seyfried’s efficiency and Fastvold’s route are virtually with out fault, there are a number of moments the place the screenplay touches on some fascinating concepts however then by no means returns to them once more. Whether or not that is the embarrassingly temporary touch upon Ann’s brother’s sexuality, or the equally hole illustration of the Shaker’s abolitionist politics, the movie merely refuses to remark in any significant means on these points.
This appears like an intentional choice at instances, because the movie is unwaveringly targeted on Ann’s inner journey relatively than the exterior politics of the spiritual motion as an entire, but it surely leaves the movie with no very clear message.
The subtext is there for audiences to grasp how Ann’s trauma and sexual dysphoria led to her involvement within the Shakers, however the movie doesn’t all the time go far sufficient to show why that is essential. It’s as if we’re merely watching a narrative play out. Whereas that’s accomplished brilliantly and with staggering technical prowess, the very best movies additionally clarify why the story ought to be informed.
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