It’s time for a year-end Amanda Seyfried DOUBLE FEATURE!
Review by Mark Woodring
Our (likely) last two film reviews of 2025 both feature the amazing and talented Amanda Seyfried.
The Housemaid and The Testament of Ann Lee
These are two very dissimilar films, as you’ll find out, so let’s get started.
**NOTE: You can read Mark’s reviews below, then use the links to listen or watch as he and Ryan discuss the films in more depth. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
131 Minutes, Rated R
Written by Rebecca Sonnonshine, Frieda McFadden
Directed by Paul Fieg
Synopsis:
A struggling woman is happy to start over as a housemaid for an affluent, elite couple.
While The Housemaid is ostensibly a “Sydney Sweeney” film, it’s really driven by Amanda Seyfried, who turns in as unhinged a performance as you can get in a film like this one.
My brief notes from the screening included the following: “It’s like a reverse SWF (Single White Female)”
Now that is, after completing the film’s too-long runtime, a far simpler comparison than it might have been, it’s not inaccurate, as you learn by the bat-shit third act.
Seyfried’s performance vascillates between idyllic housewife, bitchy suburbanite mom, and psychotic monster (with varying degrees of success in the last one).
The Housemaid can’t settle on a way it wants to approach what could be either a straight campy romance-type or a heavy horror-thriller, and so it didn’t work for me on either of those levels.
But I’d have preferred the dark and heavy horror-thriller, personally.
If you want to watch it, watch it, but don’t try to guess what’s happening, as you’ll likely be right, thus ruining the film for you. It’s chock full of cinematic cliches, barely missing the opportunity to do something that hasn’t been done a thousand times before.
The Housemaid is in theaters December 19 and stars Amanda Seyfried, Sydney Sweeney, and Brandon Sklenar.
137 Minutes, Rated R
Written by Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold
Directed by Mona Fastvold
Synopsis:
Ann Lee, the founding leader of the Shaker Movement, proclaimed as the female Christ by her followers. Depicts her establishment of a utopian society and the Shakers’ worship through song and dance, based on real events.
A far different film from The Housemaid, this one is a thoughtful examination of the growth of the Shaker movement as told through the life and experiences of Ann Lee, a woman who challenged the system and was punished for it, but who was also embraced by her faith, becoming the leader of a movement in America.
While the Shakers are a mysterious sect, and are nearly extinct owing to their belief that sex is to be avoided, thus relying on converts to maintain their ranks, they offer an interesting look at a movement that values the simple over the modern, the peaceful over the chaotic, and the equality of all over the elevation of some.
The Testament of Ann Lee is not an easy watch; it’s dense, it’s deliberate, and its characters are layered and complex…
It’s an Arthouse film masquerading as a blockbuster.
And that’s okay.
While not a perfect effort, it’s well worth a watch.
The Testament of Ann Lee is in theaters Christmas Day, December 25 and stars Amanda Seyfried, Lewis Pullman, and Thomasin Mackenzie.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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