MONA FASTUMDhe is European (Norwegian), but for many years he has lived in the United States where he married the director Brady Corbet, feeling of the Venice exhibition 2024 (the silver lion for The brutalist that Mona had co-writing).
With The Testament of Ann Lee FastVold Stila – As her husband had done, telling the story of the architect László Tóth – another compelling historical novel on an iconoclastic of the old continent who arrives in America to build his church. Project for which FastVold confesses to have had like main reference Andrej Rublëv by Andréj Tarkóvsky, Biography of the greatest icon painter of the 14th century, revered as a saint from the Orthodox Church, a story that – unlike his – is very integrated with silences.
Ann Lee, living incarnation of the second coming of Christ (she and her followers were convinced of it), it was certainly a mystical and a leader, but before found the Shaker community in Manchester to Manchester in the mid -18th centuryschismatic Christians whose devotion was expressed through singing and dance (“to shake” means “shaking” in English), accumulated a long series of pain.
Amanda Seyfried, protagonist of The Testament of Ann Lee: “I’m not afraid of the dark places”
Amanda Seyfried and Stacy Martin in “The Testament of Ann Lee”. (Courtesy Press Office)
From Oh mama! to the musical on the shaker
When Brady Corbet, that the film He wrote it together with his wife – and not just to make her courtesy, since she also produced it – she spoke of “how difficult it was to finance a musical on the Shaker”perhaps forgot to say how much crucial – to collect the 10 million budget of the film – It should have been the choice of Amanda Seyfried. Who had already shown Knowing how to sing in Oh mama! 1 and 2 And to be an actress capable of uncommon levels of intensity in a lot of other films.
Amanda Seyfried welcomes the reporter by eating a croissant, which is politely sorry for. From the energy with which it shakes it (“I took taste” it will commentel), it would seem disappointed by the presence of icing sugar. “I don’t want sugar, I want butter,” he concludes. A strong statement which, immediately, attests to his anomaly compared to the fee of the Hollywood actresses. It was not enough the radicality of the career choices, which range from Lovelace (2013)porn actress of Deep Throatto the biopic in music by the preacher, whom we have Just seen in competition at the Venice exhibition, then passed to Toronto and now on the road to the London Film Festival.
Amanda Seyfried: the films and the series on religion
It is not the first time that she delves into dark places, often linked to religion, even if her name is mainly linked to the joyful sunshine of Oh mama! In First Reformed by Paul Schrader was in the smell of holiness, it was Salomé for Atom Egoyan, in the series Big love He was the daughter of a Mormon and Polygam preacher. Attendance that led her to reflect on religion, holiness, ecstasy?
I am always happy with the choices I make, but when the choices force me to long research and introspection works then I feel I really be in a state of grace. The research, even very personal, made for these films have led me to understand myself, to be closer to the earth and God. Very cathartic. And they allowed me to grow. If I know who I am, it is also thanks to these projects that have positioned me in the universe, but they also kept me with the feet on the ground. Trying to enter the life of a woman like Ann Lee made me feel more artist, because to do it I really had to do crazy things.
The one it describes seems like a form of ecstasy. I always play the door in that territory?
It is! To do certain things in front of the camera you have to go back to a sort of primary state, find the animal that is in you. It is there somewhere inside us, but it hides very well. And then you have to allow yourself to be extremely vulnerable. But you cannot be unless those who drive you have not been good at creating a safe space. Mona has succeeded. And God only knows how difficult it is to make a musical: it’s like making a ballet, a disc and a movie all together.
“The Testament of Ann Lee”. (Courtesy Press Office)
“Women cannot be hostage to a small group of men”
The perhaps less understandable choice of his character is that of chastity that is explained only with the compensation that offered a vision of life, work and always super sensual prayer. The dance scenes are very intense. For you as for the viewer?
We wanted the energy that came out of our bodies was transmissible. We started dance workshop with the choreographer (Celia Rowlson-Hall, editor’s note) a year and a half before the start of filming. And also to experiment with the music that were composed (starting from the real Shaker hymns, from the Oscar winner Daniel Blumberg, editor’s note ). We sang a lot! And we filmed several scenes in a real Shaker village in Massachusetts. What a wonderful welcome have reserved for us! That was an unforgettable phase: we were able to film the exteriors and furnishings (the shaker had high skills of carpentry, editor’s note) and consult their archives.
The film cannot be said is a traditional biopic. Mona thought of Tarkóvsky, she perhaps a Jesus Christ Superstar?
The form helped us to find history: the shaker prayed through ecstatic songs and dances. They could be owned by the Holy Spirit and received the gift of a song or a musical reason in that condition. They lived their lives in music and constantly moving. In the tales that have been handed down we speak of how the simple touch of one faithful produced the movement of another and how, from that moment, the two danced together for hours. Or it is told of Ann Lee who sang with such a beautiful voice that everyone felt touched by grace.
With Ethan Hawke in Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed”. (Courtesy Press Office)
Amanda Seyfried: “Becoming Ann Lee made me feel more artist”
Their was also a story of violence and censorship …
They suffered much more than what is represented in the film. They were beaten, tortured, the clothes of Ann Lee torn, were not easily accepted anywhere. But they never let go. For this reason it was important that Ann Lee found a space in American history, because figures like hers were silenced, deleted. It was one of the first feminists in the history of the country, it fought for equality, for the creation of a movement in which there were no hierarchies of any sort, neither gender nor breed. And he only managed with the strength of faith to create a society that reflected those ideas. He did it in a moment in American history in which we tried to create something new, to give him shape. Take ahead that we are in a similar phase today: the technology that looms on the horizon brings with it something that reminds me of the old west, his anarchy, the desire for exploration but also the same naivety of the pioneers. We can also conclude that that of Ann Lee was a failed experiment, but I believe that she deserves equally consideration.
«We are on the shoulders of the giant ones. Ann Lee, Giovanna D’Arco “
Do you have to tell more stories of female leadership? Do they still speak to us even if they come from so far?
Of course, we are on the shoulders of those giant. Ann Lee, Giovanna D’Arco, women who have been able to imagine grandiose utopias. And then it is true that things have changed a lot, thank God, and we have been able to find a common ground that helps us to make our voice heard. There are few individuals who still have great power in our world, and are clearly terrified of women. These individuals, having power, money and followers who in turn are terrified of women, represent our greatest problem. We cannot be hostage to a small group of frightened men. Therefore we must continue to create communities because power comes from there, from communication. I do not always agree with the political ideas of my family or friends, but we talk about it, and we try to do it kindly. And I believe that most humans do not want conflict, but on the contrary he wants to share and be understood. We should not forget, in these frightening moments that we are experiencing, that there has been an illiterate woman, poor and without weapons who was able to emigrate to America with only eight followers and create a community open to all. Not for ego, not for personal advantage, but because a new society could exist and there was room for prayer and everyone’s work.