Amanda Seyfried was overcome with emotion as her new film, The Testament of Ann Lee, made a powerful debut at the Venice International Film Festival.
The historical musical drama, directed by Mona Fastvold, premiered on Sept. 1 and received a 15-minute standing ovation, the longest so far at this year’s festival.
The warm response even topped the 13 minutes of applause that Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein earned just days earlier.
Video captured by Variety showed Seyfried wiping away tears and looking around in awe at her colleagues, including Fastvold, as the audience erupted in cheers.
The actress, now 39, appeared deeply moved by the overwhelming reaction to the project.
According to the festival’s synopsis, the film is “an epic fable inspired by the life of Ann Lee, the founder of the Shakers, a radical religious movement that began in the late 1700s.”
Fastvold described the movie as “a speculative retelling of the life of Ann Lee, one of the few female religious leaders of the 18th century.
She and her followers, known as the Shakers, worshipped through ecstatic song and movement, trembling, exuberant and physically expressive acts of devotion.”
Ahead of the world premiere, Seyfried reflected on her experience portraying Ann Lee, calling the role unlike anything she had done before.
“This did feel like an opportunity where there were just no tethers to anything,” she said during a press conference.
“Basically, I follow Mona into the light and anything goes, because there’s so much freedom, and the only threat is to not use that freedom to your advantage as an artist to go as far deep as you can go to make the craziest sounds. I’ve never been let loose in this way.”
The film features a strong ensemble cast alongside Seyfried, including Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Stacy Martin, Tim Blake Nelson, Christopher Abbott, Matthew Beard, Scott Handy, Jamie Bogyo, Viola Prettejohn and David Cale.
The Venice Film Festival continues through Sept. 6, but no official release date for The Testament of Ann Lee has been announced yet.