Oscar nominated. Award winning writer-director Mona Fastvold (co-writer of last year’s The Brutalist) has made a unique extraordinary account of Ann Lee, radical founder of the devotional sect known as the Shakers – a woman who may or may not have been something of a charlatan, but was also distinctly ahead of her time.
Lee, who preached gender and social equality, was revered by her small following, but despised by the Church and hounded from 18th Century England to the New World. Lee’s visions, which much like Joan of Arc, may have been due to some form of mental illness, plunge us into the ecstasy and agony of her quest to build a utopia.
Featuring more than a dozen traditional Shaker hymns reimagined as rapturous movements with choreography by Celia Rowlson-Hall (Vox Lux) and original songs & score by Academy Award winner Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist). This is very very far from the standard biopic – and all the richer for it.
Director: Mona Fastvold
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Lewis Pullman, Thomasin McKenzie
Year: 2025
Language: In English
Country: UK / USA
Running time: 2hrs 17mins