Mona Fastvold, who directed the invigorating The Testament of Ann Lee, describes the film as a “speculative retelling” of the life of its title subject, the founder of the Shaker movement. Though the Shakers today are largely known for their furniture, and particularly the trademark design of keeping chairs on the wall when not in use, the film—which began its fall festival run in Venice, continuing in Toronto—charts the religious sect’s fascinating origins, with Amanda Seyfried’s Ann Lee at the center of it all.
The film, co-written by Fastvold and her partner Brady Corbet around the time of their Oscar-winning previous collaboration, The Brutalist, is a musical. This may seem like an odd fit, but the Shakers differentiated themselves with their erratic movements (like shaking, hence the name), song, and dance while praying, so the genre proves to be an organic choice. The numbers unfold in impressively layered choreography as the Shakers move vigorously in an effort to clear their minds and bodies of sin. The songs themselves drew inspiration from real Shaker hymns from the 1700s.
Ann Lee was born on Feb. 29, 1736, in Manchester, England. As the second eldest of eight children, Lee grew up in a large family, and 18th century living conditions dictated that her family all sleep together in one room. Because of this, she regularly bore witness to her parents having sex, a sight that ingrained in her a repulsion to intimacy. Lee was not a person to hide her feelings, and regularly spoke out against things she disagreed with, which led to regular punishments from her father.
Lee grew up near Manchester’s Christ Church of the Church of England, but struggled to understand their beliefs, never fitting in with the predominant religion. In 1758, she met James and Jane Wardley, who ran meetings in their home as Shaking Quakers, where they preached radical ideas that ran counter to the dominant Church of England. Among them was that chanting and dancing could cleanse the body of sin. Even more radical was the belief that in the second coming, God would be a woman. After a lifetime of struggling to fit in, Lee found a community that embraced her completely—so much so that they believed Lee herself to be the second coming of God, and gave her the title of Mother.
Lee married Abraham Standarin on Jan. 5, 1761. The marriage was troubled, owing not only to Ann’s distaste for physical intimacy, but also the fact that all four of her children tragically died in infancy. This led her to have a vision that would result in the defining principle of the Shakers. Lee declared that to achieve true purity and be free of sin, one must commit to a lifetime of celibacy. Lee would later push for the elimination of all marriages within the Shakers, breaking her own marriage to Standarin in the process.
Lee also renounced any concept of gender roles, longing for full social equality regardless of gender or race. This naturally made her an enemy of the Church of England, which declared her a heathen and placed her in a mental asylum. When she was eventually released, Lee and a small group of her followers made the journey to America to spread their gospel, believing the people of Manchester to be poisoned by the teachings of the Church of England. There are various conflicting accounts of when she pleaded her case to the Church to be freed from the asylum. Some say she spoke in 12 different languages, while others claim she spoke a staggering 72 mother tongues. Though it’s impossible to know for sure what Lee did that day, what is true is that those hearing her case were so deeply moved that they freed her from the asylum.
For visual inspiration and to flesh out Lee’s story, in part due to difficulty finding much information on her life before her move to America, Fastvold and Corbet found great value in Baroque and religious artwork. “We looked at Caravaggios and other Old Masters for the dramatic colors, lighting and drama they contain when we needed to fill in the blanks of her story,” says Fastvold in the film’s press notes. “Once we pieced together what we believe occurred in Ann’s early years…we traced her journey to America, where her life was well documented by the early Shakers.”
On May 19, 1774, Lee and her fellow Shakers set sail from Liverpool to America. After a long and exhaustive search for a place to lay the foundation for their community of worship, they found a space in Albany County, New York, and built their village, which became known as Niskayuna. It was there that people followed Lee’s strict guidelines for a better life, including celibacy and the constant pursuit of perfection in all aspects of their lives. Lee and her brother William would preach far and wide to attract people to their cause (a necessity, given the lifetime celibacy requirement) and their pursuit of a utopian society free of any and all sin. The Shakers made money by manufacturing and selling furniture, but did not require money from their constituents to be part of the Shaker movement.
Though Lee and the Shakers were free of persecution in America, they ran into similar problems to those they’d faced in England. Lee’s firm, unshakable belief in pacifism ran counter to the American Revolutionary War. She refused to allow her people to participate in the war efforts, which led to an assault on the Shakers in 1783. The Testament of Ann Lee unfolds in multiple chapters from birth to death, showcasing Ann’s bravery, as well as her complete and utter belief in her cause and movement. Even when her life was threatened time and time again, she never once faltered or wavered.
“What I personally connected with in Ann’s journey,” Fastvold continues in the press notes, “was the idea of creating a society not for personal gain or money but with the intention of living inside this space where she could devote herself to work. Labor was a central part of her vision.” Indeed, Ann worked tirelessly throughout her whole life, building, preaching, and committing herself physically and mentally to spreading the word of God until she died at the age of 48 in 1784.
Lee did not live to see the peak of the Shaker movement, in 1840, at which point there were 6,000 practicing members. Since a key tenet of the Shakers was lifelong abstinence, those numbers have naturally dwindled. As of today, there is one active Shaker community in the world: Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, in Maine. It’s a small village, with only two practicing Shakers. But just a few weeks ago, a third person joined the village, increasing the number of practicing Shakers by 50%.
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