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 Fastvold about working again with her personal and professional partner while The Brutalist was still on the festival circuit and collaborating closely with composer Daniel Blumberg after The World to Come to create something that absolutely evolved into a musical:
“I knew right away that it had to have a lot of music and movement in this film, because they worship through ecstatic song and dance, the Shakers. It’s such a huge part of how they live their lives; they live their lives through music and movement. But I was resisting the genre, calling it a musical for a long time, because it terrified me slightly. So I kept calling it a musical and movement piece, until Brady eventually said, it’s a musical, just accept it and own it. And then when I did so, we just realized that I wanted the entire film to just be infused by music and movement, throughout every moment. To me, there’s choreography and there’s music in every single moment now, even in the subtlest little way in a longer dialogue scene. You’ll see rhythmical gestures or you’ll hear a little bit of music or some improvisational singer doing a breath piece. It’s really infused throughout the whole film. It was daunting diving into it, but the Shakers have such a rich musical history as well. So we had that to be inspired by, but then I also knew that it had to become our own interpretation of that.”
Watch the video above to hear more about her research into the Shakers and how the film has resonated with audiences of all persuasions, religious and not.
The Testament of Ann Lee opens in select theaters on December 25th.
