The Testament of Ann Lee (R) is a visceral, high-voltage musical directed by Mona Fastvold. It stars Amanda Seyfried as the eponymous 18th century founder of the woman-led ‘Shaker’ religious cult.
The daughter of Mancunian Quakers, Lee came from a poverty-stricken background. When she was 22 she joined a sect run by ‘Mother’ Jane Wardley, the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing. This was like a precursor of the Shakers.
Wardley believed Christ would come back to earth as a woman. So did Lee. In time, she went on to believe that she herself was this woman.
When she set up the Shaker movement, she put a lot of store by song and dance. She encouraged what she called “full body participation” in the trance-like confession of sins. This is what led to the ‘Shaker’ moniker. Gender equality was also high on her list of priorities.
Shakers believed sex should only be practised for the procreation of children. Lee herself gave birth four times in her marriage. She lost all her children in infancy, leading her to believe God was punishing her for even engaging in marital sex. In the film, she has a vision of herself levitating and seeing Adam and Eve committing the “original sin” of sex.
Revulsion towards sex led to her becoming celibate. Some people have argued that the manner in which she immersed herself so sensually in her dancing suggested this activity became like a surrogate form of it for her.
She emigrated to America in 1774, believing she would find a more positive response to her ideas in the “new country” than conservative Britain. Her husband, Abraham, travelled with her. In the film, he leaves her as a result of frustration over her celibacy. Her younger brother William and niece Nancy also travelled with her. They stayed.
“America’s first feminist,” as she was dubbed, was alleged to have performed a number of miracles in America. People sceptical of these accused her of witchcraft. Her neutral stance during the American War of Independence – like the Quakers, the Shakers were pacifists – led to further problems.
She commanded adoration from large numbers of people. Others found her views too radical. Both she and William were attacked by an angry mob in 1784, ten years after they first set foot on American soil. Both of them died afterwards as a result of their wounds.
Seyfried has received much praise for her intense performance in the film, and a Golden Globe nomination. Celia Rowlson-Hall has also been highly commended for her choreography of scenes involving the passionate singing of traditional Shaker hymns with their ritualised frenzies and almost possessed operatic delivery.
Ideologically, the film has divided audiences just as Ann Lee’s revolutionary views divided her followers during her lifetime. The Vatican remains tight-lipped about it at a time when women’s role in the church is becoming an increasingly topical issue for Pope Leo.
