Call Jane, director Phyllis Nagy's period drama about the Jane Collective, has only become more timely since its premiere at Sundance earlier this year, before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the constitutional right to abortion after almost 50 years.
Set in Chicago in 1968, when the procedure was still illegal, the movie tells the true story of the Jane Collective (the nickname for the Abortion Counseling Service of Women's Liberation) through the journey of one housewife, Joy (Elizabeth Banks). When Joy learns that her pregnancy is life-threatening but is told she cannot terminate it, she instead turns to the Janes, led by women's health activists Virginia (Sigourney Weaver) and Gwen (Wunmi Mosaku). Inspired by their mission, Joy joins the cause.
Call Jane is the sophomore feature from Nagy, who earned an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for 2015's Carol. Here, she directs from a script by Haley Shore and Roshan Sethi.
"My impulse was to create a piece that allowed for each character's point of view to thrive and be communicated without moral judgment but with the kind of messy, complex, and contradictory behaviors that encourage empathy in audiences," Nagy said in her director's statement. "No lectures welcome."
Call Jane opens in theaters on Oct. 28. Watch the trailer below.
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