A superb performance from Amanda Seyfried, whose Ann Lee is a complex ball of vulnerability, defiance, righteousness and stillness.

Shakerism wasn’t built to last: only three adherents remain. As a monument to the enigma of faith, Fastvold’s film will hopefully prove more sustaining -- God willing.

The film is overwhelmingly self-serious and thus accidentally very Monty Python. So many scenes live just on the verge of unintentional side-splitting comedy.

...in a way that can only be seen to be believed, the dancing and singing are the beating heart of the film, and the deepest expression of Shaker spirituality.