Call Jane 2022

That's a great movie, that came out a few months after the US supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 landmark case that had allowed legal abortion in the US.

Seen in this light it does indeed serves as a grim warning for the return of illegal abortion rings and practices that lead to numerous tragedies when women couldn't safely terminate pregnancies.

The story itself is seen though the character of a housewife, Joy Griffin, played by Elizabeth Banks, who learns that her pregnancy could be fatal, due to a heart defect induced by it. She seeks legal recourse to be allowed to terminate it, due to exceptional circumstances, but is flatly denied by the hospital board, that allows that the baby has a 50% chance of survival, even if the mother does not. She then seeks other means to abort, and after a false start, meets a women ring, that allows her to safely abort. After this she becomes involved with the ring first by helping out, and then by taking other the procedures herself, going on until Roe v Wade happens

It's a story told in a subdued and melancholic way, that nonetheless punches you right in the guts. Elizabeth Banks does a magnificent job acting the evolution of her character, helped by a great cast of secondary actresses, chief among them Sigourney Weaver who play a hard boiled feminist, having fought all the battles of the time.

The cinematography by Greta Zozula is very good an₫ the atmosphere of the 60's is very well rendered, tip of the hat there to Jona Tochet for the production design and to Melissa Desrosiers and Julie Weiss for the costumes department (damn some of those 60's outfits were quite gorgeous).

50 years later, unfortunately that battle has to be fought again, and it's a damn shame !