uSome directors only take a little time to transform the idea that a central figure in the plot is “apolitical” into images, which is in some sense socially critical but ideologically untainted entertainment cinema. But Phyllis Nagy uses the entire opening scene in “Call Jane” to convey exactly that: Right at the beginning, Elizabeth Banks, in the role of young wife Joy, is seen walking down the stairs of a brightly lit foyer, the lush light letting her perfectly pinned-up blonde hair shine , a midnight blue dress flows around her body. She waves to her husband, who is celebrating his promotion here with fellow lawyers, before continuing on through the entrance hall. Discordant notes mix with the cha-cha sounds from the ballroom as she steps out the door. Police officers block the street outside, one of them tells them to go back inside and scolds the young people who are demonstrating against the government’s policies. It’s 1968 Chicago, and Joy only flinches as a protester is pinned against the frosted glass of the front door. She no longer hears the beatings of the police, only music.
This clear separation, politics on the outside, ideal world on the inside, is supposed to dissolve more and more for Joy in the following. She, who has settled in her little life as a housewife between the kitchen and afternoon margaritas with the neighbor, has to realize that none of this is safe. Joy is pregnant, but having the child puts her health at risk. If she wants to survive, the pregnancy must be terminated, says her doctor. And so she finds herself at her husband’s side in front of the hospital’s responsible committee, a group of elderly men who are now supposed to decide whether an abortion can be performed. Within minutes, a verdict is reached on Joy’s life, the probability that the child would survive childbirth is sufficient to reject the abortion. The gentlemen ignore Joy’s objection: “And what about the mother’s life?”
It’s such exaggerated scenes that show Nagis’ directorial ideas. Many scenes in film and television that are currently dealing with the recently tightened abortion law in the United States deal with the horror of heteronomy over one’s own body in a much clumsier way than this director. Nagis comes from the theater, having staged plays by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Patricia Highsmith in the UK and America. Call Jane is the second feature film she is directing. It is probably thanks to her theatrical experience that she can condense thoughts into impressive images without disregarding the dialogue. This makes up for some of the flaws in this true story, as it doesn’t interest all of the characters beyond its core narrative. She prefers to stay close to Joy.
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