--- title: "The Testament of Ann Lee" year: 2025 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-testament-of-ann-lee" fi1m_id: "the-testament-of-ann-lee" imdb_id: "tt34819091" tmdb_id: 1401281 wikidata_id: "Q131441164" fi1m_score: 73 critics_score: 78 critics_reviews: 18 published: "2026-09-09" updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:45.652776+00:00" region: "AU" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Testament of Ann Lee (2025) Directed by Mona Fastvold · 2h 17m · ACB M · History, Drama, Music ## Identity The Testament of Ann Lee - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-testament-of-ann-lee - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** the-testament-of-ann-lee - **IMDb ID:** tt34819091 - **TMDB ID:** 1401281 - **Wikidata ID:** Q131441164 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34819091/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1401281, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q131441164 **Fi1m score: 73** · Critics 78 from 18 reviews *In a sentence:* The stamping says everything; the narrator then says it again > Fastvold’s musical life of the Shaker founder is at its best when the congregation is singing and stamping, and Amanda Seyfried is remarkable throughout. Between the hymns it explains itself, at length, through a narrator who does not trust the pictures. ## Synopsis Manchester, the eighteenth century. Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried), a blacksmith’s daughter, joins a small dissenting church led by Jane Wardly and James Wardley (Stacy Martin, Scott Handy), whose members shake and cry out in worship. Married to Abraham Standerin (Christopher Abbott) and grieving the children she has lost, she comes to believe that she has been chosen to lead, that sex is the root of sin, and that God is a mother as well as a father. Her brother William (Lewis Pullman) follows her; the town does not. Mona Fastvold’s film, written with Brady Corbet, tells her story through the Shakers’ own hymns, sung and danced by the congregation, with Thomasin McKenzie’s Mary Partington as narrator. ## Review Mona Fastvold has made a musical about the woman who founded the Shakers, and she has made it out of the Shakers’ own hymns. Ann Lee was a Manchester blacksmith’s daughter who came to believe she was Christ returned in a woman’s body, preached celibacy, and took a handful of followers to America in 1774. Fastvold and her co-writer Brady Corbet stage her life as a series of services: people in plain wool sing, stamp, spin and fall down, and the film stops everything else to watch them. When it is singing it is unlike most musicals we have seen. When it is talking, which is more often than it needs to be, it is a careful period drama with a narrator who does not trust us. The worship is the reason to go. Daniel Blumberg has taken the hymns and rebuilt them for a crowd, so a tune that begins as one woman’s voice in a kitchen swells into a hall of people breathing on the same beat. The choreography is not stage dancing. It is work made into rhythm: hands shaken out as if drying, feet driven into boards, bodies turning until they drop. Sofía Subercaseaux cuts these sequences long, staying with the whole room rather than picking out faces, so we feel inside the crowd rather than in front of it. The first big number, in a Manchester meeting room, took us by the throat. We had come in doubtful and found ourselves holding our breath with the congregation, which is presumably what it felt like to be there. Amanda Seyfried carries this. Her Ann Lee is not serene. She is tired, hoarse, often in pain, and she preaches the way someone might argue with a landlord. Seyfried sings in a plain, unshowy voice and moves like someone who has never been taught to, which is right, and when the visions come she plays them as something that happens to her body first and her mind second. It is a physical performance from a performer we had mostly seen in lighter things, and it changed our mind about her. Around her the casting is careful. Lewis Pullman, as her brother William, is the film’s warmest presence, a big man who follows his sister because he cannot think what else to do. Christopher Abbott plays her husband Abraham Standerin as a decent man baffled by a wife who has decided, for God, that they will not share a bed again, and the film is fairer to him than we expected. Stacy Martin and Scott Handy, as Jane Wardly and James Wardley, run the small church Ann first joins. Tim Blake Nelson turns up as a pastor. Blumberg, the composer, appears on screen as a deacon, which we mention because it is the kind of detail this film enjoys. The trouble is Thomasin McKenzie, or rather what she has been asked to do. She plays Mary Partington, a follower, and she also narrates, and the narration tells us what the pictures have already shown. A woman collapses in worship and we are told the spirit has moved her. Ann is set upon in the street and the voice explains that the town has turned against her. Every time the film risks being strange the narrator arrives to make it clear, and by the second hour we resented her. The scenes between the songs, of prison, of travel, of meetings, are shot with the same care as the services but written as connective tissue, and 137 minutes is long for connective tissue. William Rexer lights Manchester brown and wet and America white and cold, and there is a shot of the crossing, lit from a single hatch above, that we will keep. Sam Bader’s rooms are bare and true to their period. Małgorzata Karpiuk dresses everyone in the same three colours from first scene to last. Fastvold’s *The World to Come* was a quiet film about two women on a farm. This is her loud one. Most critics are warmer than we are, and one or two have found the shaking funny; we did not, though we noticed the film working hard to make sure we would not. See it in a cinema, where the hymns fill the hall. At home the singing gets smaller and the narrator does not. *Fi1m score 73, published 9 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics are won over, and the praise gathers in two places: the worship sequences, with their hymns and choreography, and Amanda Seyfried’s performance as Ann Lee, which several reviews describe as physical, primal and fully committed. The word strange recurs, nearly always as a compliment; the film is treated as a musical unlike anything else around, and its eighteenth-century world as fully built. Reservations cluster around what happens between the songs. The New Yorker finds the plainer dramatic scenes a let-down, Screen Daily wants more character and narrative drive, and The Hollywood Reporter thinks it repeats itself and keeps Lee at arm’s length. The spread is wide for a film this well received. The Times is the one outright dissenter, finding the self-seriousness unintentionally comic. The Wrap notes the Venice premiere drew walkouts as well as applause, which is roughly the pattern the reviews since have followed. ## Straight answers **Is The Testament of Ann Lee worth watching?** *The Testament of Ann Lee* is worth watching for anyone who can take a musical built from Shaker hymns and a long period drama between them, and we scored it 73. The worship sequences are the reason to go and Amanda Seyfried is remarkable throughout. The narration explains what the pictures have already shown, and 137 minutes feels long for it. **How long is The Testament of Ann Lee, and what is it rated?** *The Testament of Ann Lee* runs 2h 17m and is rated M by the ACB in Australia. It is a history and drama film. **Where can I watch The Testament of Ann Lee in Australia?** *The Testament of Ann Lee* is streaming on Disney+ in Australia, and it is also available to buy from Amazon Prime Video from A$15.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is The Testament of Ann Lee, and is it suitable for children?** *The Testament of Ann Lee* is certified 15 in the UK and R in the US, and it is not for children. Its concerns are adult ones: a woman's grief for lost children, her preaching that sex is the root of sin, and a marriage ended for God. Ann is set upon in the street and imprisoned, though the film is far more interested in worship than in violence. **How does The Testament of Ann Lee compare to Ordet?** *The Testament of Ann Lee* is a musical about faith made of stamping, singing crowds, where [*Ordet*](https://film.one/film/ordet) is a slow drama of faces and conversations on a Danish farm. Dreyer's film is the stronger and more consistent of the two, though it asks for real patience with its speeches. Fastvold's is the more immediately exciting when it sings, and the weaker when it talks. **What should I watch after The Testament of Ann Lee?** After *The Testament of Ann Lee*, try [*Ordet*](https://film.one/film/ordet) (1955, Fi1m 86): Dreyer takes a Danish farm and asks, without irony, whether faith works. Then [*The Passion of Joan of Arc*](https://film.one/film/the-passion-of-joan-of-arc) (1928, Fi1m 94): Another woman told by men she is wrong about God, in close-up. ### Reviews we read (22) - **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (4/5/5): Fastvold creates a bold and intoxicating meta-musical that chronicles Ann Lee’s life and expands the possibilities of filmed biography through its visceral, ecstatic exploration of Shaker worship and historical contradictions. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-testament-of-ann-lee) - **IndieWire**, David Ehrlich (A-): The critic hails the film as a rapturous, ecstatic quasi-musical that celebrates the birth of the Shaker movement through propulsive hymns and choreography, with Amanda Seyfried delivering a career-best performance as the visionary leader. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/the-testament-of-ann-lee-movie-review-amanda-seyfried-1235148432/) - **Evening Standard**, Nick Howells (85/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a wild, wonderful musical tribute to Ann Lee and her Shaker movement, with Fastvold delivering ecstatic song-and-dance sequences alongside darker moments of trauma and resistance. Seyfried delivers a ferociously physical, career-topping performance as the visionary leader. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-testament-of-ann-lee-film-review-amanda-seyfried-b1252387.html) - **Sight and Sound** (85/100, inferred): Mona Fastvold’s musical-biopic delivers an almost spiritual experience through Amanda Seyfried’s brilliant, primal performance as Ann Lee and its sensorial, epic style of cinema focused on ecstatic worship and personal trauma. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/testament-ann-lee-mona-fastvold-delivers-almost-spiritual-experience-this-musical-biopic) - **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (85/100, inferred): The critic calls the film one of the strangest and most singular musicals ever made, praising its immersive 18th-century world, hybrid choreography blending traditional and modern dance, emotional Shaker spirituals, and Amanda Seyfried’s intense performance that fills in emotional details despite historical gaps. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-ive-never-seen-anything-like-the-testament-of-ann-lee.html) - **Empire**, Sophie Butcher (80/100, inferred): Fastvold crafts a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience that immerses viewers in the Shakers' ecstatic worship through music and choreography adapted from real hymns. The film highlights prescient themes of equality and bodily autonomy while showcasing Seyfried's committed triple-threat performance. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/the-testament-of-ann-lee/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Mark Olsen (80/100, inferred): Fastvold transforms religious devotion into a physical, unusual musical through movement and song, resulting in a genuinely remarkable movie. Amanda Seyfried’s committed, resonant performance holds the ambitious film together. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2026-01-08/testament-of-ann-lee-review-amanda-seyfried-mona-fastvold) - **Time Out**, Matthew Singer (4/5): Strange, ravishing and rhapsodic historical folk musical that sweeps viewers up in its depiction of ecclesiastical fervor through Busby Berkeley-style dance sequences and Amanda Seyfried’s unwavering, committed performance. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-testament-of-ann-lee-review-2025) - **The New Yorker**, Justin Chang (75/100, inferred): Fastvold’s stylized musical extravaganza about Ann Lee mesmerizes with its fervent worship sequences and dance, though the more prosaic scenes disappoint. The film respects the unknowability of its protagonist while showcasing bold formal invention. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/01/19/magellan-movie-review-the-testament-of-ann-lee) - **Screen Daily** (60/100, inferred): An unusual and daring but uneven musical biopic that explores the Shaker founder’s story through bold stylistic and musical choices, though it lacks sufficient character development and narrative drive to fully succeed. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-testament-of-ann-lee-review-amanda-seyfried-is-18th-century-preacher-in-audacious-musical/5208278.article) - **The Guardian** (60/100, inferred): The film is a vehement, fervent, striking but sometimes baffling drama about the historical figure of Ann Lee and the Shaker movement. It is a genuinely strange, elusive work that deploys irony while asking the audience to sympathise with its subject. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/01/the-testament-of-ann-lee-review-shaker-venice-film-festival-amanda-seyfried-mona-fastvold) - **The Times**, Kevin Maher (30/100, inferred): This biopic of the English founder of the Shakers is overwhelmingly self-serious, with unintentionally hilarious results, as the film turns the ecstatic worship into something that recalls Monty Python. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/testament-of-ann-lee-review-dwsls7mvb) - **Financial Times**, Danny Leigh (4): Amanda Seyfried gives a performance of raw abandon as the spiritual leader of the Shaker sect in this heady if deeply self-conscious portrait. The film centres the esoteric with audience-friendly trappings but lands as a careful, tasteful halfway house. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/6a340b40-1aed-4130-8766-bc21511aa466) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney: The critic finds the film a dizzying, energetic speculative portrait of Ann Lee and the Shakers that thrums with spiritual intensity and features strong performances and rhapsodic songs, but lacks intimate insight into its protagonist and feels like a repetitive slog at times. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-testament-of-ann-lee-review-amanda-seyfried-1236358389/) - **The New York Times**, Alissa Wilkinson (Critic’s Pick): The critic hails Mona Fastvold’s singular, astonishing biographical musical about the Shakers’ founder. Amanda Seyfried delivers an extraordinary performance that sweeps viewers into Ann Lee’s visions, pain, and joy. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/movies/the-testament-of-ann-lee-review.html) - **/Film**, Chris Evangelista (10/10): The critic calls it one of the best movies of the year and a unique spiritual musical that captures religious ecstasy through song and dance. Seyfried delivers the best performance of 2025 as Ann Lee. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/2054795/the-testament-of-ann-lee-review/) - **Paste** (A-): The critic highlights the bold, disorienting musical biopic that captures how ecstatic 18th-century religious experiences felt through mesmerizing Amanda Seyfried and 70mm visuals. It ultimately finds continuity in human experience via a unique, vibrating frequency. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/amanda-seyfried/the-testament-of-ann-lee-review) - **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (80/100, inferred): The critic describes a carefully crafted, serene film with exquisite cinematography and period detail that absorbs patient viewers through its reverie-like quality and respectful portrayal of the Shakers. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-testament-of-ann-lee-2025-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) - **The Skinny**, Mika Morava (★★★★): Fastvold treats the story of Ann Lee with respect and bright humour, painting her as coherent in turning trauma into resolute faith. Seyfried gives a stunning, wistful and sexy performance as the female Christ. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/the-testament-of-ann-lee) - **The Wrap** (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film an uncompromising, zealous historical musical that fuses form and content to portray the rise of a religious leader on her own terms, with haunting musical sequences and a devastating performance by Amanda Seyfried. It notes the work's divisive nature at Venice, with walkouts alongside applause, but expresses personal rapture at its intensity and refusal to entertain conventionally. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/the-testament-of-ann-lee-review-amanda-seyfried/) - **The Playlist**, Marshall Shaffer (B): The critic highlights Seyfried's human and inspiring performance grounding the parable and the visceral physicality of the Shakers' worship, while noting the film can feel slippery and inconsistent in its rapture. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/the-testament-of-ann-lee-review-a-divine-amanda-seyfried-shines-in-mona-fastvolds-musical-parable-venice-20250901/) - **Collider**, Jeff Ewing: The critic praises Amanda Seyfried's exceptional, career-defining performance as the complex founder of the Shakers and the film's unique musical approach to depicting ecstatic worship and surreal elements. Some pacing and voiceover choices are noted as minor drawbacks that slightly undercut emotional impact in key scenes. [Read](https://collider.com/the-testament-of-ann-lee-review-amanda-seyfried/) ## Details - **Director:** Mona Fastvold - **Director:** Mona Fastvold - **Writer:** Mona Fastvold, Brady Corbet - **Cinematography:** William Rexer - **Editor:** Sofía Subercaseaux - **Music:** Daniel Blumberg - **Production design:** Sam Bader - **Costume design:** Małgorzata Karpiuk - **Producer:** Andrew Morrison, Joshua Horsfield, Viktória Petrányi - **Cast:** Amanda Seyfried as Ann Lee; Lewis Pullman as William Lee; Thomasin McKenzie as Mary Partington / Narrator; Matthew Beard as James Whittaker; Christopher Abbott as Abraham Standerin; Viola Prettejohn as Nancy Lee; David Cale as John Hocknell; Stacy Martin as Jane Wardly - **Runtime:** 2h 17m - **Certificate (ACB):** M - **Release (Australia):** 26 February 2026 - **Genres:** History, Drama, Music - **Budget:** $10 million - **Box office:** $4 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb0ZhiDD9J0 ## Where to watch in Australia - Disney+: streaming, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: buy A$15.99, uhd *Checked 2026-09-10.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *The Devils* (1971): Russell’s convent frenzy: the same fever, none of the restraint, and a louder finish. - *Ordet* (1955), Fi1m 86: Dreyer takes a Danish farm and asks, without irony, whether faith works. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/ordet.md) - *The World to Come* (2020): Fastvold’s earlier frontier film, whispered where this one shouts. - *The Passion of Joan of Arc* (1928), Fi1m 94: Another woman told by men she is wrong about God, in close-up. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-passion-of-joan-of-arc.md) - *Jesus Christ Superstar* (1973): Belief as a musical, sung in a desert by people who mean it. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-testament-of-ann-lee