Call Jane

Call Jane

A married woman with an unwanted pregnancy lives in a time in America where she can't get a legal abortion and works with a group of suburban women to find help.

  • Released: 2022-10-27
  • Runtime: 121 minutes
  • Genre: Drama, History
  • Stars: Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, Chris Messina, Wunmi Mosaku, Kate Mara, Cory Michael Smith, Grace Edwards, John Magaro, Aida Turturro, Emily Creighton, Gina Jun, Rebecca Henderson, Bianca D'Ambrosio
  • Director: Phyllis Nagy
 Comments
  • mark.waltz - 7 November 2023
    "No. No. No. No. No."
    "Just fall down a staircase. It worked for me."

    All those men, and all those no's. Fortunately many men have different feelings on the subject matter of a woman's right to choose even if the Supreme Court doesn't. Elizabeth Banks can't get herself to fall down the stairs to terminate the pregnancy, just like a possibly suicidal person changes their mind while putting a knife to her wrist. She's a wife and mother, happy about her second pregnancy, but a possibly life threatening issue has her contemplating terminating the pregnancy, with her male doctor's advice. The patriarchal hospital board all votes no, so other options come to her attention.

    Taking place a decade before Roe vs. Wade, this isn't pro or anti-abortion, just a history lesson of the better option than the shady looking characters Banks encounters in a dirty apartment building. She has a supportive husband, attorney Chris Messina, and he believes that she has suffered a miscarriage. The introduction to the Call Jane service comes through the understanding Wunmi Mosaku, and the young Cory Michael Smith performs the procedure. The support group is lead by the founder, Sigourney Weaver, determined to provide the safest and healthiest procedure, both physically and mentally. Soon Banks is pulled into the service, driving women to their "appointment", putting her marriage at risk.

    There's a dry bit of humor in Weaver's character, slightly pushy, extremely blunt, and definitely manipulative, using everything in her means to provide a service where no questions are asked and no judgments are made. If "Far From Heaven" modernized the Ross Hunter/Douglas Sirk soap opera with an interracial romance, this takes it one step further and avoids the obvious exploitation aspect. I couldn't help but imagining Lana Turner in Banks' role and Agnes Moorehead in Weaver's. This aspect of expressing the film's ideals really works, and never feels manipulative or forced.
  • SnoopyStyle - 26 December 2022
    gained relevance
    It's 1968 Chicago. Criminal lawyer Will (Chris Messina) and his pregnant wife Joy (Elizabeth Banks) are reserved politically. Her health deteriorates and she needs a medical abortion. The hospital board rejects her request and she goes seeking back alley help. She finds a flyer to Call Jane, a women's organization headed by Virginia (Sigourney Weaver).

    If this came out a couple of years ago, it would be irrelevant or scaremongering. With the recent court ruling, this has gained new relevance. It does get a bit preachy, but the politics do lend itself to preaching. First, I would change the opening section. It makes them sound dumb and disengaged. They seem to be a smart couple, but the movie makes them political idiots. They are religious. The opening could have the family attend church. My other big problem is the pumpkin. I get the attempt at humor, but the movie is better without the attempt. This is not American Pie and the joke is a little close to that. All in all, it's a movie for a certain crowd and not for the other crowd.