The Testament of Ann Lee

Plot

Ann Lee is born in Manchester in 1736 ("The Testament of Ann Lee"). 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 her father 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, former 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 ("Worship"). Ann's trepidations around sex are worsened by her husband's interest in sadomasochism and oral sex as well as the tragic death of all four of their children in early infancy ("Beautiful Treasures").

Eventually, the Shakers sufficiently unnerve the locals and disturb the peace, including interruption of a church service, that authorities arrest Ann and imprison her for 14 days. During this time, she refuses to eat or drink ("I Never Did Believe"). 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 sex ("Hunger and Thirst"). She shares this with other Shaker leaders and they determine she must be the female Messiah they were awaiting, renaming her "Mother Ann." William ends his secret homosexual relationship with his lover, cuts his hair as Ann directed, and commits to supporting her.

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. During the voyage, Nancy becomes enamored with new convert Richard, Hocknell's son ("Today Today"). Despite sometimes threatening mockery of their rituals by the crew, Ann helps keep up morale during a violent storm and earns the crew's respect ("All is Summer"). Upon arriving in New York City, Ann sends William and other men north to find land for their community. The men are guided by a vision experienced by Hocknell after three days of prayer which includes his finger wagging uncontrollably; this shaking digit points him to the meadowland site ("John's Running Song"). During the months spent waiting to hear back from the men, Nancy, following an assignation with Richard in a privy discovered by his father, leaves the community to marry Richard. Abraham leaves Ann, frustrated with their marriage and lack of sex, demands that another female believer perform oral sex on him while Ann turns her back in disgust.

Cast

Amanda Seyfried as Ann Lee

Esmee Hewett and Millie Rose Crossley as 6-year-old and 12-year-old Ann

Lewis Pullman as William Lee, Ann's brother

Benjamin Bagota and Harry Conway as 4-year-old and 10-year-old William

Thomasin McKenzie as Mary Partington, Ann's closest friend, who is also the film's narrator

Matthew Beard as James Whittaker

Christopher Abbott as Abraham Standerin, Ann's husband

Viola Prettejohn as Nancy Lee, Ann's niece

Stacy Martin as Jane Wardley

Scott Handy as James Wardley, Jane's husband

David Cale as John Hocknell

Jamie Bogyo as Richard Hocknell

Tim Blake Nelson as Pastor Reuben Wright

Daniel Blumberg as Deacon Talmadge Bishop

Willem Van Der Vegt as Ann and William's father

Maria Sand as Ann and William's mother

Alexis Latham as Mr. Cunningham

Shannon Woodward as Mrs. Cunningham

Matti Boustedt as Captain Smith

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 (2020). 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

Principal photography took place in Budapest, with two days of filming also taking place aboard the replica ship Götheborg, which was docked in Gothenburg. Like The Brutalist (2024), 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, acted as a second unit director on the film. Filming wrapped in December 2024.

Rehearsals took place in New York. Celia Rowlson-Hall, who worked with Corbet on Vox Lux (2018), choreographed the film. As Lee birthed four children (all of whom died in infancy), Fastvold sought to depict the births "as real and direct and graphic and unapologetic as possible" using prosthetic vaginas.

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[s he has] 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

A first look was released on 22 July 2025. Charades and CAA Media Finance acquired the sales rights to the film on 26 August 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 27 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

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of 212 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Illuminated by Amanda Seyfried's sterling performance, The Testament of Ann Lee accepts The Shakers' founder on her own terms and reaches its own rhapsodic highs as a result." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 80 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

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 [Ann] 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 [him] 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." AwardsWatch's 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."

Year-end lists

The Testament of Ann Lee has appeared on numerous critics’ annual lists of the best films of 2025, including: