The Testament of Ann Lee

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The Testament of Ann Lee
Directed by Mona Fastvold
Written by
Produced by
  • Andrew Morrison
  • Joshua Horsfield
  • Viktória Petrányi
  • Mona Fastvold
  • Brady Corbet
  • Mark Lampert
  • Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska
  • Gregory Jankilevitsch
  • Lillian LaSalle
Starring
Cinematography William Rexer  [ de ]
Edited bySofía Subercaseaux
Music by Daniel Blumberg
Production
companies
  • Annapurna Pictures [1]
  • Mid March Media
  • FirstGen
  • Mizzel Media
  • Yintai Entertainment LLC
  • Kaplan Morrison
  • Intake Films
Release date
  • 1 September 2025 (2025-09-01)(Venice)
Running time
130 minutes
Countries
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10 million [2]

The Testament of Ann Lee is a 2025 historical drama musical film directed by Mona Fastvold, who co-wrote the screenplay with Brady Corbet. It stars Amanda Seyfried as Ann Lee, the founding leader of the Shakers religious sect in the 18th century. It also stars Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Stacy Martin, Tim Blake Nelson, Christopher Abbott, and Matthew Beard.

Contents

The film had its world premiere in the main competition of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on 1 September 2025, where it was nominated for the Golden Lion.

Cast

Production

Development

Director Mona Fastvold conceived the idea for the film after discovering a Shaker hymn while wrapping her second film, The World to Come (2020). [3] Fastvold stated that the project initially struggled due to "zero interest" from the industry. [4] [5]

Casting

Regarding the casting of Amanda Seyfried as Ann Lee, Fastvold stated, "Amanda has a lot of power. She's really strong. She is a wonderful mother. She is a little mad, and so I knew that she could access those things. She could access the kindness, the gentleness, the tenderness, and she could also access this power and this madness." [6]

Filming

The film was shot in Budapest on 70mm film. [7] [8] Brady Corbet, Fastvold's longtime partner and co-writer of the film, acted as a second unit director. [2] Celia Rowlson-Hall, who worked with Corbet on Vox Lux (2018), choreographed the film. [9]

As Ann Lee birthed four children who all died in infancy, Fastvold sought to depict the births "as real and direct and graphic and unapologetic as possible". Fastvold acquired prosthetic vaginas for the birthing scenes. [3]

Filming wrapped in December 2024. [10] [11]

Music

Composer Daniel Blumberg drew from original Shaker hymns to write the music for the film. [6] [12] He worked with Fastwold from the pre-production stage to the sound mixing process, describing the film as "one of the most experimental, extreme project[s he has] ever done." [9] Regarding her uninhibited singing in the film, Seyfried stated, "A lot of it was animal sounds as opposed to melodic sounds. ... I understood that I didn't have to sound beautiful in a way that is beautiful to me. It was more like a woman on her knees. [13]

Release

Charades and CAA Media Finance acquired the sales rights to the film on 26 August 2025. [14] The film premiered in the main competition of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on 1 September 2025. [15] [16] It will also be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival. [17] [18] [19]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 85% of 20 critics' reviews are positive. [20] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [21]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian rated the film three out of five stars, calling it "a genuinely strange film, elusive in both tone and meaning, one which deploys the obvious effects and rhetorical forms of irony, while at the same time distancing itself from these effects and asking its audience to sympathise and even admire [Ann] Lee, because she is not supposed to be the villain". [22] Robbie Collin of The Telegraph rated it four out of five stars, calling it "ravishingly staged and thrillingly ambitious" and writing that it "left [him] feeling wobbly and breathless". [23]

David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a grade of A−, calling it "a speculative, feverish, and altogether rapturous biopic". [24] Guy Lodge of Variety wrote, "As a study of unyielding faith practiced on wholly singular terms, it's raptly respectful and intellectually curious, even if dramatically, it can pall across the course of a languid 136-minute runtime. But it's as a full-blown song-and-dance affair — about the least likely, biggest-swinging shape Lee's story could taken — that the film is most stunningly persuasive." [1]

Accolades

AwardYearCategoryRecipient(s)ResultRef.
Venice Film Festival 2025 Golden Lion Mona Fastvold Pending [25] [26]

References

  1. 1 2 Lodge, Guy (1 September 2025). "'The Testament of Ann Lee' Review: Amanda Seyfried Shakes, Battles and Extols in an Arresting Religious Biopic". Variety . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  2. 1 2 Lattanzio, Ryan (1 September 2025). "Brady Corbet Champions 'Final Cut' for Directors Like Mona Fastvold, Who Made the Enormous 'Testament of Ann Lee' for $10 Million". IndieWire . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  3. 1 2 Canfield, David (26 August 2025). "Amanda Seyfried Sings—and Screams—in 'The Testament of Ann Lee'" . Vanity Fair . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  4. Ritman, Alex (22 August 2025). "'The Testament of Ann Lee' Director Mona Fastvold on Her Warning to Amanda Seyfried: 'It's Going to Be a Very Uncomfortable Experience'". Variety . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  5. Rubin, Rebecca; Ritman, Alex (1 September 2025). "Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold on Making 'Testament of Ann Lee' for Just $10 Million: 'The Elevator Pitch for a Shaker Musical Wasn't the Easiest to Get Off the Ground'". Variety . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  6. 1 2 Goodfellow, Melanie; Kheir, Nada Aboul (1 September 2025). "'The Testament Of Ann Lee' Director Mona Fastvold Calls For More Movies About Female Icons As Star Amanda Seyfried Praises Sense Of Community On Set". Deadline . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  7. Bamigboye, Baz (14 October 2024). "Breaking Baz: Thomasin McKenzie Shines As Test-Tube Baby Pioneer In Heartfelt Movie 'Joy' – London Film Festival". Deadline . Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  8. Bergeson, Samantha (22 July 2025). "'The Testament of Ann Lee' First Look: Amanda Seyfried Sings in Historical Shaker Movement Religious Fable". IndieWire . Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  9. 1 2 Gardner, Chris (1 September 2025). "Amanda Seyfried on Going Feral to Play Shakers Founder Ann Lee: "I've Never Been Let Loose"". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  10. Wiseman, Andreas (12 December 2024). "'The Brutalist' Team Have Wrapped On Under-The-Radar Musical 'Ann Lee' Starring Amanda Seyfried, Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Christopher Abbott, Tim Blake Nelson & Stacy Martin". Deadline . Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  11. Bergeson, Samantha (12 December 2024). "Amanda Seyfried to Lead Musical 'Ann Lee' from 'The Brutalist' Co-Writers Mona Fastvold and Brady Corbet". IndieWire . Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  12. Sharpe, Josh (26 August 2025). "The Testament of Ann Lee, Starring Amanda Seyfried, Features Score Based on Shaker Hymns". BroadwayWorld . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  13. Ritman, Alex (31 August 2025). "Amanda Seyfried on 'The Testament of Ann Lee' and Singing on Screen for the First Time Since 'Mamma Mia 2': 'I Had to Release My S—'". Variety . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  14. Tabbara, Mona (26 August 2025). "Mona Fastvold's Venice Competition title 'The Testament Of Ann Lee' boarded for sales". Screen Daily . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  15. Kheir, Nada Aboul; Tartaglione, Nancy (1 September 2025). "Amanda Seyfried Gets Emotional As 'The Testament Of Ann Lee' Shakes Up Venice With 15 1/2-Minute Ovation". Deadline . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  16. Gardner, Chris (1 September 2025). "Amanda Seyfried in Tears, Does Shaker Dance After 'Testament of Ann Lee' World Premiere at Venice Film Festival". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  17. D'Alessandro, Anthony (21 July 2025). "TIFF Galas & Presentations: World Premieres 'Good Fortune', 'Nuremberg', Sydney Sweeney Pic 'Christy', Angelina Jolie 'Couture'; North American Debuts Guillermo del Toro's 'Frankenstein', Dwayne Johnson 'Smashing Machine'". Deadline . Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  18. Rubin, Rebecca (21 July 2025). "Aziz Ansari's 'Good Fortune,' Guillermo del Toro's 'Frankenstein,' 'The Smashing Machine' and More Added to TIFF Lineup". Variety . Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  19. Tabbara, Mona (21 August 2025). "'The Testament Of Ann Lee', 'Bad Apples' among BFI London Film Festival 2025 competition lineup". Screen Daily . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  20. "The Testament of Ann Lee". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved 3 September 2025.
  21. "The Testament of Ann Lee". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
  22. Bradshaw, Peter (1 September 2025). "The Testament of Ann Lee review – strikingly strange portrait of radically ecstatic Shaker leader". The Guardian . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  23. Collin, Robbie (1 September 2025). "Amanda Seyfried leads an all-panting Christian sect in this fearlessly feral musical". The Telegraph . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  24. Ehrlich, David (1 September 2025). "'The Testament of Ann Lee' Review: Amanda Seyfried Is a Singing Female Christ Figure in Mona Fastvold's Incredible Quasi-Musical About the Shaker Prophet". IndieWire . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  25. Ntim, Zac (22 July 2025). "Venice: Kathryn Bigelow, Guillermo del Toro, Noah Baumbach & Benny Safdie In Competition – Full Lineup". Deadline . Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  26. Vivarelli, Nick; Shafer, Ellise (22 July 2025). "Venice Film Festival Lineup: Guillermo del Toro's 'Frankenstein,' Yorgos Lanthimos' 'Bugonia' With Emma Stone, Benny Safdie's 'Smashing Machine,' Luca Guadagnino's 'After the Hunt' and More". Variety . Retrieved 22 July 2025.