Amanda Seyfried’s 18th-Century Cult Musical ‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ Has to Be Seen to Be Believed

Mona Fastvold and Brady Corbet’s return to the Venice Film Festival competition line-up was always going to be eventful. Just last year, Corbet scooped the showcase’s best-director prize for his more-than-three-and-a-half-hour-long epic The Brutalist , co-written with Fastvold, his partner in life and work.

That victory took the pair all the way to the Oscars, with the lushly shot, lavishly mounted period piece earning three statuettes from 10 nominations. Twelve months later, it’s now Fastvold who’s in the director’s chair and Corbet who serves as co-author, as they unveil another compelling passion project that’s guaranteed to get the Lido talking: The Testament of Ann Lee , a staggering, surreal musical charting the rise of the 18th-century religious sect the Shakers and their titu