While the Lead Actress race feels filled to the brim with contenders, there’s one that feels so close to the race but on the outside with a film underperforming across the board in the awards race. The Testament of Ann Lee is one of my personal favorite films of the year and while I understand why the film overall can be divisive to some, the performance from Amanda Seyfried feels undeniable. What she delivers is a tour de force performance; while she is always incredible, she’s allowed to dive into so many sides of herself as an actor to bring Ann Lee to life.

It’s unreal to watch her bring this woman alive in a way no one else could. It’s a performance for the ages that we’ll talk about for decades to come, no matter how you feel about the film. She’s charming yet visceral. She’s animalistic yet soft and vulnerable. There is no performance like this, not just this season, but we will probably never see anything like it ever again. There’s a feral, unsettling quality to what Seyfried brings on screen under the brilliant, bold direction from Mona Fastvold that can only be achieved with this understanding and same creative language between a performer and actor that truly see each other and have the same vision for what they’ve set out to achieve.

The Shakers had an impassioned dedication and it’s clear Fastvold idenitifies with that, as many creatives, particularly women, will know you have to lock in on your beliefs and passions to get your point across and your objectives met. Seyfried meets her on every point. Not only through her expressive body language that carries the burden, the grief of Ann Lee, but her stunning voice to embody that pain, suffering, and perseverance to spread her message. Everything we as a society know of Ann Lee, if anything as history does not spread her story, is through second-hand tellers, both from her followers and her opponents. How we leave behind our story, our legacy, is up to us, but what even is our role in that if the dominant voice is just the loudest?

However, if you walk away with anything, what the film speaks to in this moment is an idea of acceptance being a form of liberation. None of this works without a fearless performance at its center and Seyfried is the perfect vessel for the message and embodiment of Ann Lee on screen. She has such a fondness for her person, her story, her vision. It’s easy to watch films of complicated women in history and see the lack of understanding and empathy for the woman at the center. It’s not just in interviews of Seyfried expressing her dedication to preserving the true memory of Ann Lee but throughout the film, you can feel her connection to enlightening those with her story, her vision, her contribution to society.

Complicated women quite often get left off ballots in favor of another complicated female character in a bigger movie or a more accessible telling and while The Testament of Ann Lee may not be for everyone, Seyfried is magnetic in this consuming, feral performance that scopes motherhood, religious leader, cultural figure, and friend that defined generations to come. A lead actress lineup without Seyfried feels like a mistake.

The Testament of Ann Lee is currently available in select theaters.
You can read our review here.