Mathieu Kappler, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Film Review of Call Jane
By Geoff Carter
The movie Call Jane starts off with a long tracking shot following an immaculately dressed woman as she descends the staircase of a ritzy hotel on her way to a dinner with members of her husband’s upscale law firm. The woman pauses at the door of the opulent ballroom where tuxedoed and gowned guests are enjoying themselves, but then continues on to the front door, where she hears a commotion. Outside, she finds a line of police officers preparing to hold back protestors chanting, “The whole world is watching!” She steps back and watches through the frosted glass doors as violence ensues.
Yes, it’s 1968 in Chicago, and Joy (Elizabeth Banks), the woman watching the protestors and a typical suburban housewife, seems happy in her cocooned existence, far from revolutionaries, protestors, and activists. She has a loving husband Will (Chris Messina), a wonderful daughter Charlotte (Grace Edwards), and a baby on the way. Everything is rosy until Joy discovers she has congestive heart failure, medical condition that will threaten her life if the pregnancy continues. Her doctor puts the odds of her survival at fifty-fifty and recommends an abortion. Joy seems to have no choice and reluctantly agrees. The doctor recommends the abortion, but the termination needs to be approved by the hospital board—all men—who even after hearing Joy’s odds for survival, refuse to approve the procedure.
And so, Joy, understandably not wanting to die, is left to her own resources. On her doctor’s advice, she unsuccessfully attempts to convince two psychiatrists that she is suicidal, a condition which would automatically qualify her for an abortion. Then, becoming even more desperate, Joy makes an appointment at an illicit clinic that turns out to be a filthy rathole. Seeing the conditions there, she flees in terror. Finally, at wit’s end, she sees a flier to “Call Jane” and is connected to a competent (although arrogant and sexist) Doctor Dean (Cory Michael Smith) who performs the procedure. Afterwards, her ride Gwen (Wunmi Mosaku) takes her to an apartment where she meets Virginia (Sigourney Weaver), the leader of the Janes, a network of women dedicated to helping other women get safe abortions.
Joy is relieved and gratified that her own problem is solved, but Virginia soon reaches and asks her to help the organization, which Joy reluctantly (at first) does. The rest of the narrative traces Joy’s journey into a world far from her comfortable suburban existence. She finds herself assuming the roles of chauffeur, counselor, administrator, advocate, and even surgical assistant to women in desperate circumstances. Predictably, her involvement with The Janes begins to supersede her role as a homemaker, causing strife at home.
Call Jane is a good and eerily timely movie. While the narrative is mainly focused on Joy’s journey—as foreshadowed in the initial tracking shot—from a cloistered middle-class Madonna into a socially aware and radical activist, its impact on our own time could not be more appropriate. Watching Joy’s desperate quest during the first third of the movie is harrowing enough on the surface; the implication that her struggle will—and is—currently being experienced by countless American women is stunning.
From the smug hospital board of directors to the smarmy Dr. Dean to Will, Joy ‘s own husband, the viewer realizes that the arrogance and contempt Joy faces every step of her journey, the same misogynistic tendencies that led to the overturning of Roe-v-Wade, are alive and well in America. This film is both a warning and an augury.
The Janes were a real organization in Chicago. While Call Jane is a loose adaptation of their history, they did help countless women during their existence. Out of necessity, in the states where abortion will be criminalized, they will rise again.
Call Jane is not a great movie but like To Kill a Mockingbird or Do The Right Thing, it is a necessary movie. It humanizes and personalizes an issue that is all too often co-opted by opportunistic politicians. It returns ownership of reproductive rights to women.
Aside from the cultural work it does, Call Jane is a well-crafted and engaging film. Shot in a grainy color film stock that lends its sixties milieu an authentic air, the movie finds a nice balance between the glossy sixties suburban lifestyle and the gritty reality of the society’s underprivileged and underserved.
The acting is excellent. Elizabeth Banks plays the near-perfect housewife (who even brings cookies to the hospital board meeting) to a tee. Her friendship with Lana (Kate Mara) her chain-smoking widowed neighbor, who is into martinis at eight in the morning, is an embodiment of suburban sixties sensibilities. As Victoria, Sigourney Weaver is the perfect mixture of practicality, righteousness, fearlessness, and fortitude. She is the perfect Jane.
After the saga of Joy’s abortion, the narrative centers on her metamorphosis from a cocooned suburbanite into a committed women’s activist. While it is a compelling story, it seems to supersede the story of the Janes themselves. Near the end of the story, during a celebration after Roe -v- Wade had been enacted into law (a bittersweet moment today), the Janes seem to concentrate their gratitude almost solely on Joy, which seems a little excessive. Her actions have been courageous, maybe even heroic, but she did no more than anyone else in the organization. After all, everyone there is Jane. Everyone there is equal.
At times, she narrative moves in fits and starts or settles into a rut of predictability. The scene in which Gwen turns Joy onto her first joint seems expected and even obligatory. Another scene in which Victoria and Dr. Dean bargain about his fee over a bottle of vodka seems jarring and nonrealistic. It doesn’t seem to fall within the parameters of the characters or their situation.
But Call Jane is well worth seeing. In fact, as a reminder of what our country has recently done to the freedoms of one-half of its population, it should be required viewing. Yesterday is here, and we need to see exactly what we’ve gotten ourselves into.
