The Testament of Ann Lee (2025)

The Testament of Ann Lee (2025)

starring Amanda Seyfried

directed by Mona Fastvold

137 minutes

Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried) was born in 1736 and grew up in Manchester, England. She was from an early age interested in religious movements and repelled by sexual relations. Ann, her brother William, and their niece Nancy joined a group frequently referred to as the Shaking Quakers. She got married to a blacksmith and was pregnant four times but none of her children lived beyond infancy.

Ann eventually became a leader within the Shaking Quakers and adopted the honorific of Mother. A small subset of the Shaking Quakers, led by Mother Ann Lee immigrated to New York City in 1774. They moved north in 1779 to Niskayuna, a piece of land near Albany, and founded the first Shaker community there. Ann sent William out to find new followers to join their community. The community at Niskayuna grew. They went on missionary trips throughout New England and new communities were founded.

The existence of the community at Niskayuna was challenged by some of their neighbors. Ann and William both died in 1784 within a year after a violent attack while they were on a missionary trip.

Thoughts

I knew little to nothing about this movie going in. All that I knew about the Shakers is that they were founded by Mother Ann Lee and that it is very unusual for a religious movement to be founded by a woman.

There is a fair amount of singing and dancing in this film but it is not a musical.

I don't love this movie but it fails where a lot of biographical movies fail in my opinion. It lacks the sort of focus that I feel that a story needs to have. The story seems to be focused on Ann Lee, until the community moves to Niskayuna. After that the focus seems broader.

I understand why the focus shifted but I'm not satisfied with the movie on the whole. This is not a bad movie. The scenes with dancing and singing were very moving. The lighting was less than optimal in many scenes that took place indoors or at night but I think that was probably a choice made by the production team to go more natural in that area.

I've seen several film made in 2025. This film isn't one of my favorites from 2025 but I can see why some people really like it, especially if their focus is mostly on the music and dancing.