20s Movie Review - Call Jane

Director: Phyllis Nagy
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 121 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, Chris Messina, Kate Mara

Description: Joy (Elizabeth Banks) is a married woman with a pregnancy endangering her life, in a time in America when she can’t get a legal abortion and works with a group of suburban women to find help.

Review: 1968. Joy is an exemplary housewife. She married her college sweetheart, a lawyer, a lives in the suburbs of Chicago, together with their 15-year-old daughter. She is pregnant, but the pregnancy endangers her life due to a heart condition. Being pregnant might cost Joy her life. Terminating her pregnancy is the only way to make Joy better, but in 1968 this was still illegal. Only if it was a life-threatening situation, she is allowed to have an abortion. The hospital board, all men, are the ones to decide if Joy’s pregnancy can be terminated. But the 50/ 50 chance of her surviving this pregnancy, is not urgent enough. She is denied the abortion. Joy takes matters in own hands.

Jane rolls into a network of activist women, who arrange women with unwanted pregnancies to have an abortion.

The message of the film is very clear. I loved that about “Call Jane”. Especially since the current elections, it’s still a very topical film. Many Americans are still strongly against abortion and in several states it’s still illegal. By creating a fictional main character, a model housewife, the creators try to reach a broader audience. I don’t think this message will sit well with the more conservative Americans. The story is based on the real “The Jane Collective”, but the characters are fictional and not based on specific people.

The ending of the film feels a bit rushed, but the overall message and the story is very gripping, powerful and strong. I really loved this film that sadly still is very topical.

Rating: 4/ 5