a snow storm,” says Seyfried.“ I met those cows, and I was in that beautiful, round, huge building where we did the first dance. I had that whole experience to bring with me to Budapest. I had a through line already because I was there in a physical space that Ann walked. It’ s very rare playing somebody and a place that really existed, and I didn ' t take it for granted.” She spent time where the Shakers worked and lived and was shown the seed packets, the brooms, the furniture, and other artifacts that they used. Seyfried had what she says was an authentic Shaker experience before she went to Hungary. Then to return to Hancock Shaker Village to finish the movie was like coming home.“ It was epic,” she says.
THE STORYLINE AND THE SCREENING
The movie begins with Ann Lee early in her life. Born in Manchester, England, in 1736, she was the second eldest of eight children. Starting from childhood, she promised her heart to God, yet she was searching for some deeper truth, some deeper expression to connect her fervent soul. She found that when she attended a salon at the home of Jane and James Wardley, founders of The Wardley Society. They had recently been estranged from The Quakers and espoused their own gospel. They believed that the Second Coming would be revealed in a female form, something described in the Book of Revelation as“ a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars,” according to the King James Bible.
This embodiment of the founder of the Shakers is stunningly portrayed by Seyfried. It’ s hard to imagine anyone else in that part. At the movie’ s premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 1— the first time Seyfried saw the finished product— she burst into tears watching the scene where Mother Ann was near the end of her life. When the lights went up, Seyfried, who was sitting next to Fastvold, could be seen crying during the 15½-minute standing ovation.
“ I remember how tired I was in that scene. I remember blocking, What do I feel right now?” says Seyfried.“ There ' s a heaviness to her, and I brought every ounce of my own heaviness to it. When in doubt, you cut to the reality of what you ' re going through, and you blend in yourself with the character. When I was watching it, I felt my own heaviness and Ann’ s heaviness at the same time. It was overwhelming.” Seyfried’ s voice falters over the phone, reliving that moment.“ You cry because you ' re happy, you cry because you ' re devastated, and you cry because, for me, personally, I cried because I was exhausted, and it was just a whole mess of feelings that I was having. The lights go up, and it ' s over. My life experience is never going to be separated from what I saw on screen. That was a beautiful chaos of my life and Ann ' s life and Mona ' s life and the story. You become one with each other. I can ' t really articulate it in any other way right now. We communed with Ann Lee.”
Seyfried was perhaps even more nervous at the Woodstock Film Festival screening six weeks later. It was the film’ s Upstate premiere and the closest to where Mother Ann settled. In the audience were Seyfried’ s friends and family, and she really wanted them to like it. Before the film, she mingled outside of the movie theater, all smiles as she was hugging familiar people. This was her neighborhood.
“ I wanted them to be able to experience what I do, and I wanted them to love it and appreciate it as much as I do,” she says.“ I was just scared that they wouldn ' t like. It ' s unconventional and very radical, the way Mona shot it, and the storytelling is so special and unique. It can ' t really fit into any box or category. It was also the first time my husband and my mom were seeing it, as well.”
The team from Hancock Shaker Village also was there, which added to the joy and anxiety for Seyfried. She really wanted them to like it, too. She had nothing to worry about.“ I really loved it,” says Carrie Holland, director / CEO of Hancock Shaker Village.“ That’ s a hard story to tell. You get a sense of what it felt to be Ann Lee, or to be around Ann Lee,
20 // BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE Holiday 2025