The Testament of Ann Lee


The Testament of Ann Lee is a 2025 epic historical musical drama film directed by Mona Fastvold, who co-wrote it with Brady Corbet. The film stars Amanda Seyfried as Ann Lee, the founding leader of the Shakers religious sect in the 18th century. The supporting cast includes Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Stacy Martin, Tim Blake Nelson, and Christopher Abbott.
The Testament of Ann Lee had its 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 was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on 25 December and the United Kingdom on 20 February 2026 by Searchlight Pictures. The film received positive reviews from critics, with Seyfried receiving acclaim for her performance and earning nominations for the Golden Globe Award and the Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress.

Plot

Ann Lee is born in Manchester in 1736. During childhood she and her younger brother William work at a cotton factory. One night, she witnesses her parents having sex and associates the act with sin; during a meal, she says she knows what her father does to her mother, and he beats her hands with a switch. As she grows older, she becomes more pious and takes a job as a cook at a local infirmary. One day, she, William, and their niece Nancy visit the home of Jane and James Wardley, Quakers who preach that Jesus’s Second Coming will be a woman and embrace public confession of sin and impromptu shouting, dance, and song as part of worship. Ann becomes a fixture within the group of “shaking Quakers” and marries fellow believer Abraham. Ann's trepidations around sex are worsened by her husband's interest in sadomasochism and oral sex and the tragic death of all four of their children in early infancy. Her brother William is a latent homosexual.
Eventually, the Shakers unnerve the locals and disturb the peace enough, including interruption of a church service, that authorities arrest Ann and imprison her for 14 days, during which she refuses to eat or drink. She has a vision of herself levitating, and of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden which she takes to mean that original sin was fornication and therefore humanity must abstain from marriage and sex. She shares this with other Shaker leaders and they determine she must be the female Messiah they were awaiting and rename her "Mother Ann."
After an angry crowd injures Ann and her followers, they elect to leave Britain for New England, funded by Hocknell, a wealthy farmer. They sail aboard the Mariah where Nancy becomes enamored with the new convert Richard, Hocknell's son. Despite their rituals being mocked by the crew, Ann helps keep up morale during a violent storm and earns their respect. Upon arriving in New York City, Ann sends William and other men north to find land for their community. During the months waiting to hear back from the men, Nancy, following a sojourn with Richard in a privy where his father finds them, leaves the community to marry Richard and Abraham leaves Ann, frustrated with their marriage and lack of sex.
That spring, Ann and the others rejoin William in Niskayuna where they have begun developing a settlement, guided by a vision Hocknell has, including his finger wagging and pointing him to the meadowland site. William is sent out to preach at other established communities. The population of Niskayuna steadily grows with converts and foundling children who are adopted into the community. Ann is arrested by the Continental Army for insisting their community remain neutral during the war. After being freed by the sympathetic governor, she travels around New England, establishing Shaker communities, though some people suspect her of witchcraft.
Ann recruits new followers at a local farm where they are attacked by an angry mob. The farm is burned down and several Shakers are beaten and killed. Ann, though telling the Shakers not to resist, is stripped naked below the waist by men who question her gender and accuse her of witchcraft. Badly injured, Ann recalls her childhood with William during their journey home. William dies shortly after, and prominent follower Mary is half-blinded. A year later, Ann, who never recovered from the attack, dies as well and is buried in the village which is now a thriving and self-sustaining religious community. The credits mention the population of various Shaker communities, and that there are only two Shakers left in 2025.

Cast

  • Amanda Seyfried as Ann Lee
  • * Esmee Hewett and Millie Rose Crossley as young Ann
  • Lewis Pullman as William Lee, Ann's brother
  • * Benjamin Bagota and Harry Conway as young William
  • Thomasin McKenzie as Mary Partington, Ann's closest friend who is also the film's narrator
  • Stacy Martin as Jane Wardley
  • Christopher Abbott as Abraham Standerin, Ann's husband
  • Tim Blake Nelson as Pastor Reuben Wright
  • Scott Handy as James Wardley, Jane's husband
  • Matthew Beard as James Whittaker
  • Viola Prettejohn as Nancy Lee, Ann's niece
  • Jamie Bogyo as Richard Hocknell
  • David Cale as John Hocknell

    Production

Development

Director Mona Fastvold conceived the idea for the film after discovering a Shaker hymn while wrapping her second film, The World to Come. Fastvold stated that the project initially struggled due to "zero interest" from the industry.

Casting

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."

Filming

took place in Budapest. Like The Brutalist, which was co-written by Fastvold and directed by her longtime partner, Brady Corbet, the film was shot on 35 mm film stock. Corbet, who co-wrote Ann Lee, also acted as a second unit director on the film. Celia Rowlson-Hall, who worked with Corbet on Vox Lux, choreographed the film.
As Lee birthed four children, Fastvold sought to depict the births "as real and direct and graphic and unapologetic as possible" using prosthetic vaginas. Filming wrapped in December 2024.

Musical numbers

Composer Daniel Blumberg drew from original Shaker hymns to write the music for the film. He worked with Fastvold from the pre-production stage to the sound mixing process, describing the film as "one of the most experimental, extreme project ever done." The soundtrack also includes three original songs that were written by Blumberg himself.
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.
The soundtrack details were released on 15 December 2025.

Release

Charades and CAA Media Finance acquired the sales rights to the film on 26 August 2025. A first look was released on 22 July 2025.
The film premiered in the main competition of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on 1 September 2025. It was also screened at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, and in the Official Competition at the 2025 BFI London Film Festival on 11 October, and then in the Special Presentations of the 61st Chicago International Film Festival on 16 October 2025. Through September and December 2025, the film was screened at the Zurich Film Festival; the Hamptons International Film Festival; the Woodstock Film Festival; the Montclair Film Festival; the AFI Fest; the Philadelphia Film Festival; the SCAD Savannah Film Festival; Beyond Fest; New Orleans Film Festival; the Austin Film Festival; the Miami Film Festival; the Denver Film Festival; the St. Louis International Film Festival; the Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival; the Inverness Film Festival; the Independent Film Festival Boston; the Virginia Film Festival; the Leeds International Film Festival; the Heartland International Film Festival; the Ojai Playhouse Film Festival; the Santa Fe International Film Festival; the EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2025; the Tahoe Film Festival; and the Sun Valley Film Festival; with some of these screenings presented in 35 mm, 70 mm, and IMAX formats.
In September 2025, Searchlight Pictures acquired distribution rights to the film in North America and several international territories, giving it a limited theatrical release on 70mm film in the United States on 25 December 2025, before expanding wide on 23 January 2026, and later releasing in the United Kingdom on 20 February 2026.

Marketing

On 6 November 2025, the first teaser trailer made its online debut. The official trailer was released on 7 January 2026.
The first theatrical-release poster was released on 19 November 2025, while a second poster followed on 10 December 2025.

Reception

Critical response

In his five-star review for The Irish Times, Donald Clarke described the film as "the stuff of masterpieces" and praised Fastvold for "creating a convincing version of Lancashire torn between industrial modernity and apocalyptic mysticism," adding that in the titular role, "Seyfried is electrifying." Meanwhile, 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 with and even admire Lee, because she is not supposed to be the villain." Robbie Collin of The Telegraph rated it four out of five stars, calling it "ravishingly staged and thrillingly ambitious" and writing that it "left feeling wobbly and breathless."
David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a grade of A−, calling it "a speculative, feverish, and altogether rapturous biopic," and declaring that Seyfried "gives the best performance of her career." 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 have taken — that the film is most stunningly persuasive." Lodge further added that Seyfried is "quite dazzling as Ann, the self-made icon, wielding a poised, peaceable, but controlling authority in scene after scene." Awarding the film five stars, Loud and Clear critic Clotilde Chinnici writes that "Seyfried delivers an award-worthy performance as Ann Lee with her layered portrayal of a complex and fascinating woman." She also commends the film’s technical achievements, noting that "the cinematography and the costumes immediately bring us back to mid-18th-century England, and later in the film, the United States."
Writing for Time, Stephanie Zacharek praised Seyfried’s performance, describing her as "remarkable", noting that the film would be "unimaginable with any other actress." Zacharek added that The Testament of Ann Lee is "a movie that takes big chances in a culture that, most days, seems allergic to them." Jack Walters of Screen Rant praised Seyfried, calling her performance "career-best" and stating that she "delivers one of the strongest performances of the entire year in this film." Writer and critic Alfred Castaneda echoed this sentiment, writing that "early in the film, it’s clear that this is the best performance of Amanda Seyfried's career." Further praise for her performance came from Adam Nayman of The Ringer, who noted that "Seyfried powers through a performance that earns its instant tour de force reputation and then some." AwardsWatchs Roberto Ruggio awarded the film an A, affirming that "Angelic and fierce at once, Seyfried gives the performance of a lifetime, ferocious, visceral, and vulnerable, making Ann Lee not just a historical figure from the past, but bringing her alive again." Jeff Ewing of Collider affirmed that Ann Lee is "the role Seyfried was born to play," adding that "it's hard to imagine another person as the controversial figure." Bestowing an A+ grade, Cameron Ritter from InSession Film hailed the film as "the movie of the year," calling Seyfried’s performance "breathtaking" and noting that "her singing and emotional range are on full display." Ritter also commended Pullman’s work as William, describing it as his "best performance to date." Kam Ryan of The Rolling Tape writes that Pullman "proves to be the film’s quiet centerpiece," and, in reflecting on Ann and William’s sibling relationship, observes that "his chemistry with Seyfried is a pleasure to watch." Ryan also concludes that "Seyfried’s luminous performance make it a biopic that lingers long after the credits roll and demands to be seen more than once."
In their compilation of the 11 Best Movie Performances of 2025, TheWrap named Seyfried among them, describing her performance as a "showstopper," while also calling it "spectacular," and stating that she “turns what could have been something more conceptual into a piece that is richly felt and extremely detailed." IndieWire named Seyfried to its list of "The 24 Best Film and TV Performances of 2025", writing that she "plays Lee not as a historical symbol but as a woman wrestling, painfully, with the magnitude of her own calling,” and adding that "she doesn’t just carry the film — she transfigures it into her own image." Meanwhile, in the site's annual critics poll of "Best Performances in 2025", she placed ninth. In their list of "The Best Performances of 2025", The Film Stage ranked Seyfried's performance in the role at No. 10, stating that the actress "seems to direct the camera, guiding it with famously expressive eyes towards gestures untethered to the frame. When she levitates, we join." Editors at RogerEbert.com selected Seyfried for their list of "The Great Performances of 2025" and emphasized that the actress "was gifted the role of a lifetime, and she absolutely delivers in one of the most demanding roles of her entire career." Spectrum Culture cited Seyfried among its selections for the "Best Film Performances of 2025", describing her as a "compelling lead actor" and noting that "you can almost see yourself becoming disciple, despite unwavering chastity, something that actors who play religious figures rarely achieve." Collider also included Seyfried in its The Best Movie Performances of 2025 roster, noting that she "gives her all" in a role that is "emotionally and physically draining, but the actress doesn’t hold back in going where she needs to go to capture the essence of ". The film was ranked sixth on TheGATE.cas 100 Best Movies of 2025 list, which highlighted "Seyfried’s revelatory lead performance" and emphasized that it "isn’t just a high point for the actress, but the best performance from anyone all year." Rodrigo Perez of The Playlist wrote that Seyfried's performance "lands as another reminder that Seyfried isn’t just excellent; she’s one of the defining actors of her generation" in the site's list of "The 31 Best Performances of 2025". Other sites such as Yardbarker, When Things Go Pop and FilmBook also included Seyfried in their lists of Best Film Performances of 2025. Additionally, W included Seyfried in their Best Performances issue for 2026, with Lynn Hirschberg noting that "Seyfried embodies the real-life 18th-century founder of the Shaker movement with quiet authority, stripping away the sensationalism often attached to religious leaders."