In Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee, Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried) finds purpose and destiny in the Shakers, a religious movement defined by physical movement in spiritual prayer and, thanks to Lee’s own vision, abstinence from sex. As Lee travels with her followers from England to the United States, her own faith is constantly tested by those who see her as a dangerous heretic who must be stopped.
Awards Buzz spoke with cinematographer William Rexer about working with both Fastvold and the film’s co-writer Brady Corbet on limited series Long Bright River and The Crowded Room, and how that informed his approach here. He spoke in particular about the process of shooting the dance and the passion of the worshippers:
“Our design with the dance was to respect the form that Celia [Rowlson-Hall] was creating and make sure that we showed the audience enough of those forms and structures because they all have meaning and they all have references. But also the camera has to become an active participant and the believer as well. And at the beginning, you notice that the believers are joining in but they’re not in unison yet. By the end, when Ann dies, it’s a single organism that’s all breathing and in one. It’s a slow development over all those dance numbers to get there, but the two guiding rules were: observe, to show the form, and whether that meant go on top really show the form or straight on to show the form, and then also become an active participant, and be one of the believers that’s revolving in Ann’s world. Those were the two structural things that we did for all the dance pieces.”
Watch the video above to hear more about this intense, focused experience and how it might shape the next projects he takes on.
The Testament of Ann Lee opens in select theaters on December 25th.
