2 March 2026 – Three of us went to see ‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ at the ‘Showcase’ cinema.  We were fairly universal in agreement that whilst we enjoyed the film, we all found it to be an intense telling of the story.  And whilst none of us had really appreciated how much singing, chanting and choreography would be involved, we all agreed that it enhanced the telling of the story, although noting that the Kermode and Mayo take on the film has the two of them in disagreement over that issue. 

And the story, itself, was historically accurate in the sense of repressed religions in England at that time, fleeing to America, and finding more scope for establishing fundamental religious organisations, operating in the fringes of society.  And the suggestion of witchcraft would still have been around in both England and America at that time for any organisation headed by a woman.

In summary, we felt it was a good choice of movie to have watched, despite any initial reservations we may have had, and we all agreed that it was an impressive performance by Amanda Seyfried, also noting her success in ‘The Housemaid’ (although we never saw that movie as a group).  I would personally judge our score as 7/10, consistent with IMDB scoring, but falling short of the Rotten Tomatoes equivalent scoring of 8.6.

Fraser