Call Jane

Chicago, 1968. Joy's request for an abortion, though the pregnancy threatens her life, is refused by the hospital board. Through a flyer she reaches a group providing illegal terminations. After being helped, she starts working inside the group. Phyllis Nagy directed; known as the writer of Carol, this is her first film as director. Elizabeth Banks plays Joy, Sigourney Weaver plays Virginia, who founded the group. The source is real: the women's collective known as Jane that operated in Chicago between 1969 and 1973. It provided abortions to thousands of women, and its members eventually learned to perform the procedure themselves. The film's choice is to tell it as a story of organising rather than moral argument: the phone chain, raising money, finding rooms. The tone is lighter than expected; the mechanics of getting things done come before tension. It played at Sundance and arrived as the argument over abortion rights reignited in America. Who it is for: viewers who like period drama drawn from real events. Who it is not for: anyone expecting detachment; the film takes a side.