Amanda Seyfried stars in “The Testament of Ann Lee.”

It’s only January, but “The Testament of Ann Lee” might be the oddest movie you see this year. A period piece musical about the founder of the Shaker religion, it’s a stunningly experimental work starring Amanda Seyfried as the leader of a fundamentalist religion who inspired thousands of men and women to give up sex entirely while singing Bjork-esque chants.

The film begins in 18th century Manchester, England, with Lee as a child alongside her brother William. She finds religion at an early age, joining a religious sect that was an offshoot of the Quakers, made distinct by their practice of chanting and dancing to dispel their sins. After losing four of her children as babies, Lee comes to the conclusion that fornication of any kind is a sin against God. Her conviction spawns a stricter offshoot of the sect, which she exports to the Americas with a flock of only eight followers (including her brother). There they established a remote outpost in New York, which would eventually grow to a congregation of 6,000.

Advertisement

Article........

© SFGate