| The Testament of Ann Lee | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Mona Fastvold |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | William Rexer |
| Edited by | Sofía Subercaseaux |
| Music by | Daniel Blumberg |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Searchlight Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 130 minutes |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $10 million |
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 Lewis Pullman, Thomasin McKenzie, Stacy Martin, Christopher Abbott, and Tim Blake Nelson.
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, and is scheduled to be given a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 25, 2025, by Searchlight Pictures.
Director Mona Fastvold conceived the idea for the film after discovering a Shaker hymn while wrapping her second film, The World to Come (2020). [2] Fastvold stated that the project initially struggled due to "zero interest" from the industry. [3] [4]
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." [5]
Principal photography took place in Budapest. [6] Like The Brutalist (2024), which was co-written by Fastvold and directed by her longtime partner, Brady Corbet, the film was shot on 35 mm film stock. [7] Corbet, who co-wrote Ann Lee, also acted as a second unit director on the film. [8] 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. [2]
Composer Daniel Blumberg drew from original Shaker hymns to write the music for the film. [5] [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] The soundtrack also includes three original songs that were written by Blumberg himself. [7]
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]
Charades and CAA Media Finance acquired the sales rights to the film on 26 August 2025. [14] A first look was released on 22 July 2025. [15] The film premiered in the main competition of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on 1 September 2025. [16] [17] It was also be screened at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, [18] [19] and in the Official Competition at the 2025 BFI London Film Festival on 11 October, [20] and then in the Special Presentations of the 61st Chicago International Film Festival on 16 October 2025. [21]
In September 2025, Searchlight Pictures acquired distribution rights to the film in North America and several international territories, setting it for a limited theatrical release on 70mm film in the United States on December 25, 2025. [22] [23]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 91% of 43 critics' reviews are positive. [24] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [25]
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". [26] 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". [27]
David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a grade of A−, calling it "a speculative, feverish, and altogether rapturous biopic". [28] 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]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venice Film Festival | 6 September 2025 | Golden Lion | Mona Fastvold | Nominated | [29] [30] |
| BFI London Film Festival | 19 October 2025 | Best Film | The Testament of Ann Lee | Pending | [31] |
| Savannah Film Festival | 27 October 2025 | Vanguard Award | Amanda Seyfried | Won | [32] [33] |
