The Testament of Ann Lee: Movie Review

Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Lewis Pullman, Christopher Abbott, Thomasin McKenzie

Director: Mona Fastvold

Technically adept, heavy with symbolism but emotionally aloof and thematically repetitive in its structure, The Testament of Ann Lee is an intriguing film, one that blends musical and hagiography to varying degrees of success - and which will test your patience for religious preaching.

A fully committed Seyfried is Ann Lee, who's born in Manchester in 1736, and whose world is forever changed when she sees her parents having sex and is struck by a vision of sin. Deciding to shun her family and falling into a life of piety, Ann discovers faith in the form of Quakers during a visit to another family.

Struck by one group, who are Shaking Quakers and who have a physical reaction to faith, she is driven towards the belief that she is the second coming of Jesus Christ after losing her four young children and gradually excluding her husband, thanks to her abstinence.

Following her new beliefs, she leads a small group of Shakers as they head to find a new life and found a religion in America.

The Testament of Ann Lee becomes an exercise in patience as it plays out.

Despite some dodgy accents and some weaker musical numbers (all of which have been drawn from the Shaker faith and which use their rhythmic thumping and drumbeats to lead their number into a religious fervour), there's a craft at play here that works from director Mona Fastvold.

However, it's the script that feels like it's not quite reached the rhapsodic highs of what's to be expected. Perhaps it's a little too in love with the Shaker story, and keen to mythologise the tale of her ascent and growing followers, but there's little drama and conflict, not to mention interaction, between those on screen.

Aside from one brutally dramatic moment at the end of the two-hour film, The Testament of Ann Lee hangs solely on Seyfried's shoulders. Thankfully, her impressive performance is just enough to guide any naysayers through the movie, but the overall impact of what is clearly a film which relies on the exposition of its narrator (Thomasin McKenzie) is muted and feels like an odd piece of propaganda, rather than an insight-heavy movie that dives deep into the psychology of what it takes to found and lead a religion against all the odds.