Call Jane is a 2022 drama movie directed by Phyllis Nagy starring Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver. The screenplay is written by Hayley Schore and Roshan Sethi. The film It premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
A movie that tells of a real life case, which rattled society in a specific era, and mobilized a community and shifted public opinion.
Premise
Chicago, 1968. Joy, a housewife, leads a normal and sheltered life alongside her husband and daughter, while the city and the nation is on the brink of political and social upheaval. Joy’s life take a turn when she contends with an unintended pregnancy that puts her life at risk, and nobody is willing to help her in a time when abortion is not legal. This leads her on a journey seeking a solution to her situation, and venturing on participating in organizing a clandestine group of women, led by Virginia.
Movie Review
A very well directed movie, where the director seems to not seek to outshine the story being told. The story itself is strong and solid enough to carry the movie, and the director does what she can to make it as natural a portrayal as possible, and relays the narrative with objectivity and without interfering in the sequence of events.
Furthermore, this movie counts on two grand and devoted actresses who give us a portrayal of this issue with a good dose of realism. Could it qualify as a docudrama? In a way it does, true, given that the film is more concerned with chronicling the actual events, rather than give the story an artistic take. The atmospherics are really good in ‘Call Jane’, and it transports us to that era, although that interesting aspect of the feature and the iconography of that time soon dissipate as the movie brings into relief the the social issue, giving it center stage, which is Phyllis Nagy’s intention.
She does it well, with her style of not interfering nor becoming a protagonist of sorts in her movie. Allowing an intelligently constructed screenplay unfold itself, and, especially allowing Weaver and Banks shine in their respective roles.
It is a drama, and a movie that makes a statement in defense of women’s rights. It strikes us as a production that aims to be more of a document or testament with a historical tint that wants its characters and their endeavors, rather than the movie itself, to be remembered.
Well, in this case Nagy’s succeeds.
Director
Phyllis Nagy
Phyllis Nagy – born in New York, November 7 1962 – started her playwriting career in London at the Royal Court Theatre. Among the numerous plays she has written are: Weldon Rising (first produced by the Royal Court Theatre); Butterfly Kiss; the adaptation of Hawthorne‘s classic novel The Scarlet Letter; and a theater adaptation of Patricia Highsmith‘s The Talented Mr. Ripley. Nagy wrote the screenplay adapting Patricia Highsmith‘s novel The Price of Salt for the movie Carol (2015). Nagy’s second directorial pursuit in film was with the movie Call Jane (2022).
Phyllis Nagy has received numerous awards and nominations, among them for film Carol for which she was awarded New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay, and nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay, and Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Writers
Hayley Schore
Roshan Sethi
Cast
 Elizabeth Banks / Joy |  Sigourney Weaver / Virginia |  Chris Messina / Will |
 Wunmi Mosaku / Gwen |  Kate Mara / Lana |  Cory Michael Smith / Dean |
 John Magaro / Detective Chilmark |  Aida Turturro / Sister Mike |  Emily Creighton / PTO mom |
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