The Testament of Ann Lee

Ann Lee believed she had connected with God. The connection was so powerful that she came to see herself as the second coming of Christ. She believed it strongly enough that others did too. Around six thousand of them, in fact. Everyone else either ignored her or tried to persecute her, denouncing her as a witch.

In short, that is the story of Ann Lee. It's interesting, but not interesting enough to sustain a two-hour film. She did not really begin her movement until her mid-twenties and was dead by her mid-forties. Ninety minutes would have been the better runtime.

I would argue that the real testament here is to the DP, William Rexer. His oeuvre includes what appear to be some fairly terrible films, among them The Accidental Husband, Friends with Kids and I Think I Love My Wife. Yet here, in this film about Ann Lee, our boy absolutely crushes it. The film is full of beautiful shots. Whether that comes down to Mona Fastvold’s influence, or whether he arrived there on his own, we will never know.

To be fair, this is not a film made up entirely of perfect shots. Few films are. But it is full of memorable ones.

This one, for instance, reminds me of Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World.

Here, there is tremendous energy.

The staging in this scene is excellent.

Here too, the staging is wonderful.

And then there are the chapter breakers. We cannot credit those to William Rexer with any certainty, but we can say they are super cool.