The Testament of Ann Lee review: a sublime vision

There’s a skin-tingling moment around the halfway mark of Mona Fastvold’s lyrically poetic, 18th century-set epic The Testament of Ann Lee in which the thrilling ambiguity of metaphysical marvels raises the film up so that it truly sings.

The titular character, played with astonishing command by Amanda Seyfried, believes herself to be the second coming. Ann is the founder of the Shakers sect – aka the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing – whose worship, they believe, offers a direct line to god through folk music, breathy song and thrashing dance.

The ambiguity of belief

The real Ann Lee was unusual figure at a time when women were rarely allowed to lead in any capacity, she and her devoted followers were persecuted.

In The Testament of Ann Lee, when she finds herself locked up, Ann refuses both the meagre prison rations and the bread, wine and cheese smuggled up to her window in a wicker basket by followers, who include her sweet-hearted brother William (Lewis Pullman), her niece Nancy (Viola Prettejohn) and followers Jane (Stacy Martin) and Mary (Leave No Trace star Thomasin McKenzie). Mary also serves as our narrator.

Ravaged by starvation and coated with a layer of downy hair, Ann appears to work a miracle in this dank, forsaken place. In a film with no easy answers, we’re left to wonder whether it is the doing of her feverish mind or a genuine dial-in of higher powers.

All at sea

Venerating this unbending woman, The Testament of Ann Lee is both trippy and true, a remarkable snapshot of a fascinating woman who stood tall in her beliefs. This, despite a cruelly controlling society that could hardly countenance a woman as prophet, given centuries of the church’s unrelenting slander against both the mythological Eve and the very real Mary Magdalene.

Ann is presented a proto-feminist, sure, but not in every conceivable way. While she forges a religious society in which men and women are considered equals, she also pins the blame for humanity’s downfall of mankind on Eve’s grasping-for-the-apple curiosity.

She doesn’t let rib-father-lover Adam off the hook entirely, though. Sex, she reasons, is the devil’s work, insisting on chastity for one and all.

This revelation is in no small way influenced by the violent sexual urges of her caddish and weak-willed husband Abraham (Christopher Abbott, too good at playing little-big bad men), who perpetrates non-consensual BDSM but otherwise takes very little interest in his wife. Then there’s the loss, in rapid succession, of four children and the trauma that would have buried deep inside of Ann.

She comes to this vow of chastity after profound visions of a snake, writhing in the Garden of Eden, and her own halo-crowned elevation. These prophecies, convincing her she is the next messiah, are beatifically realised with a flair for the theatrical by production designer Sam Bader, art directors Ágnes Bobor, Lörinc Boros and Csaba Lodi, and the magnificent costumes of designer Malgorzata Karpiuk.

Captured by cinematographer William Rexer, who has shot Bruce Springsteen’s music videos as well as worked on TV shows like The Loudest Voice, everything glimmers, whether muddy slums or the grand salons of its most privileged and pious citizens.

Ann then decides, after her stint inside, that this place is lost to the heathens, setting sail for the so-called ‘new’ world of colonially invaded America with a small band of Shakers. A place where many religious zealots schlepped to start again, recapturing their version of Eden.

But of course, violence is just as likely here, and the voyage itself is utterly harrowing – though it’s the most compelling sequence of this extraordinary film.

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Burning bright

The Testament of Ann Lee is packed with impressive performances but is inarguably hung on a towering turn by the mighty Seyfried. A gifted actor with extraordinary range, she is also blessed with a natural gift for song and dance, which has seen her nimbly shift from Mama Mia! to Les Misérables and on to this shimmeringly chimerical transmogrification of the form.

Invoking a mystically charged musical of sorts, with echoes of Jesus Christ Superstar, Fastvold is in tune with Seyfried’s rhythm. Directing a story of sweeping scale without ever losing sight of her star’s burning bright passion, Fastvold forges something even greater than the sum of its already grand parts.

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Rarely do I get drawn into infernal ‘snub’ conversations, but it really is a great shame the Oscars overlooked both Seyfried and Fastvold. The latter also co-wrote the screenplay with her partner in life and business, The Brutalist’s Brady Corbet, packing a lot into just over two hours. While the Academy voters may have found the film unworthy, I think it approaches the sublime.

As strange and strangely overwhelming as a biblical tale, The Testament of Ann Lee burns like the bush that cannot be consumed by the almighty’s flame. Held aloft high above it all, Seyfried inhabits Ann’s occasionally down-covered skin with luminous grace in an intensely physical role matched with great psychological depth. It marks a rare occasion when ‘visionary’ really deserves to be on the poster.

The Testament of Ann Lee is in cinemas from 26 February.

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