I Give Amanda Seyfried Best Actress For The ‘Testament of Ann Lee’: At The Movies With Kasey
With awards season underway, I have been closely watching who wins in the Best Actress categories. I have seen many outstanding performances this year, but have been surprised by some of the nominations and some of the “snubs.”
To start, Rose Byrne won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You and is also nominated for an Oscar for the role. Byrne gives an exceptional performance in this role, but I am not sure how they got away with nominating her in the comedy category. In this harrowing film, Byrne plays Linda, a mother trying to cope with her daughter’s (Delaney Quinn) pediatric feeding disorder (and angering Dr. Spring, played by Mary Bronstein) while her husband (Christian Slater) is away for work. Then, the ceiling literally caves in. Meanwhile, she also handles a difficult relationship with her therapist (Conan O’Brien) and her own spiraling patient (Danielle Macdonald).
None of that is funny. There are a couple of laughlines provided by A$AP Rocky as James, a guy Linda sort-of befriends, and a bit of tragicomedy involving a hamster, but If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is so stressful, my husband got up and left an hour in. It’s a drama, but sometimes it feels like one of A24’s horror films.
Writer/ director Mary Bronstein creates a daunting pace for the film. Every time Linda gets a moment to herself, her phone buzzes, or someone knocks on the door. The feeding machine for the little girl beeps all night. Linda has to manage so many competing demands, and she cannot even get a break from the parking attendant. The screenplay boxes Linda in subtly and consistently, and Rose Byrne portrays her exhaustion viscerally. As her grip on reality slips, it is hard to tell when that started, giving the film an unnerving and dreamy quality. The effect is a masterful depiction of the toll stress and caretaking can take. It’s an incredible film that I would be happy never to experience again.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You was written and directed by Mary Bronstein. It runs 112 minutes and is rated R. It is now available on various VOD services.
As deserving as Rose Byrne is of her nominations and win, I cannot understand how The Testament of Ann Lee got shut out completely at the Oscars, including no nomination for Amanda Seyfried. The Testament of Ann Lee tells the story of the founder of the Shakers, following Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried) from her early life in Manchester, England, through her religious awakening, and across the Atlantic to start a utopian settlement in New York on the eve of the American Revolution.
The Testament of Ann Lee is unlike any film I have seen before. It does not feel like a musical, but it features over 100 minutes of music. It is ostensibly a biopic, but it tells the story as though it is a legend. Meticulous attention to detail is demonstrated in costumes by Malgorzata Karpiuk, sets, and art direction, depicting the care with which the Shakers approached their work. This diligence is contrasted with the ecstatic, wild worship style as portrayed through dances choreographed by Celia Rowlson-Hall and reimagined Shaker hymns composed by Daniel Blumberg.
All of this artistry comes together around Amanda Seyfried’s performance, which showcases a wide range of experiences from trauma and grief to transcendent joy. Additionally, the clarity of her singing voice carries the music throughout the story. As the somewhat unreliable narrator, Mary Partington, Thomasin McKenzie offers a steadier voice to the story. The screenplay uses the framing device of her perspective to leave room to question Ann’s visions when no one around her will. As Ann’s brother, William, Lewis Pullman’s gentleness counters so much of the brutality in the story. While Ann’s husband, played by Christopher Abbot, watches her with hardness and growing resentment, Pullman often looks to Ann as a leader, and his warmth emphasizes the love Ann’s followers felt for her.
Finally, as the Shaker’s benefactor, John Hocknell, David Cale gives one of my favorite monologues as he prays for patience in terms that feel more familiar than almost anything in the film, then wakes up to have a vision. It’s such a wry moment followed by a comical outburst of song and dance.
I genuinely cannot believe this film did not get a single Oscar nomination. The costumes, music, cinematography, and acting were all deserving. And for Seyfried not to get a nod for such a wide-ranging and physical role is astonishing.
The Testament of Ann Lee was directed by Mona Fastvold, who wrote the screenplay with Brady Corbet. It runs 137 minutes and is rated R. The film is in limited release, but if you get the chance to watch it, I highly recommend doing so.
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