The Testament Of Ann Lee | The Deight Night Review
 |
| The Testament Of Ann Lee (2026, Mona Fastvold, Searchlight Pictures) |
Off the back of the awards success story of her last writing collaboration with her partner, Brady Corbet, with The Brutalist last year, Mona Fastvold takes over directing duties in The Testament Of Ann Lee. This time, while the story still takes place in the past, the film is mercifully shorter without the need of an interval, though it still tackles the theme of one individual's American dream. This historical musical charters the life of Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried), the founder and leader of a sect of the Christian faith called the Shakers, members of whom celebrate their beliefs through communal singing. The film follows the female preacher's journey from Manchester, England and onto her settlement in the American colonies as she gathers more and more followers as well as witnessing the birth of a new nation.
The Testament Of Ann Lee sells itself on being a musical, among other things. However, this patently isn't what the film is, it does indeed contain characters singing for a large fraction of its runtime, but it's not a true musical and this is the film's biggest failure. Musicals come in many shapes and sizes, there are operettas like Les Miserables where every single line is sung and then there are singspiels like Grease! where songs are interchanged with spoken dialogue. In each instance, music is used as a way to tell a story, express emotion and, most notably, drive the plot along. What's more, the singing in a musical wouldn't make sense in the real world. While the music in The Testament Of Ann Lee, does express the emotions of the characters, the songs are very much diegetic (with other characters often telling the singers to shut up) and most criminally, often grind the plot to a halt as they're only there as a performance rather than pushing forward the narrative.
 |
| The Testament Of Ann Lee (2026, Mona Fastvold, Searchlight Pictures) |
It would help if the music of The Testament Of Ann Lee was in anyway memorable but it sadly isn't and often ends up being irritating with many songs having incredibly repetitive choruses that go on far longer than they need to. The purpose of this film's music, composed by Daniel Blumberg (who also did the score for The Brutalist) with lyrical assistance from writer/director Mona Fastvold, is to celebrate the music of the Shakers and their syncrinosity, so is often accompanied by the religious groups dances as well. There's an evangelical nature to the way in which the characters celebrate their faith, with screaming and shuddering to boot, this sort of display takes up a lot of the film and like the film's onlooking extras, you're often left overwhelmed and confused by what's going on. This film serves as an interesting portrait of a very eccentric group but often times comes across as a pretentious physical theatre performance that's meaning is only apparent to those in the know.
The film's music also adds to The Testament Of Ann Lee's tonal inconsistency, which had it been a more traditional musical may have been more forgivable. The film's opening act shows the early parts of Ann Lee's life and explains her decision to remain abstinent and to ask her followers to do the same, as you may expect, this involves a lot of sexual assault and the depiction of Lee's tragic history with giving birth to several doomed children, none of whom made it past their first year. This is then later contrasted with a scene where a man is singing that his finger is being guided by God to tell him where to settle the Shakers and he runs through a forest singing (not very well) while his pointed finger drags him along. This isn't the film's only contrast in tone, but it's symbolic of the story's lack of identity. If you strip away the performance art and musical elements, The Testament Of Ann Lee's story is a bog standard pilgrim's story.
 |
| The Testament Of Ann Lee (2026, Mona Fastvold, Searchlight Pictures) |
Similarly to her partner's previous work, The Testament Of Ann Lee is technically great. The film is made beautifully, with fantastic camerawork and excellent commitment to the time in which its set with all encompassing and engrossing production design that puts audiences straight into the gruesome reality of the 18th Century. However, what pulls audiences out, is a cast made up almost completely of American actors (with the exception of Thomasin Mackenzie, who's from New Zealand) playing commoners from Manchester. The cast aren't necessarily bad in their roles but many struggle to keep up their Mancunian accents and it's hard to disguise the looks of Hollywood actors, even when there's so much historical accuracy. It may have served better to get a lesser known cast, or at least pull from the vast swathes of British actors that roam the streets of Los Angeles.
The Testament Of Ann Lee is most certainly a welcome cinematic swing, it's creative and unique (at least in its depicting of The Shakers) with undeniable quality filmmaking, unfortunately, it's a disappointing miss. With its slow pace caused by endless pretentious "musical numbers" and an otherwise meandering plot that doesn't produce much narrative investment, this music biopic leaves its audience tired and confused rather than enlightened and uplifted.
★★
%202.jpg)