Call Jane

It’s 1968, five years before the landmark ruling in Roe v Wade, and abortion is not yet a constitutional right in America. When suburban housewife Joy (Elizabeth Banks) is denied a termination for a pregnancy that threatens her life, she seeks the help of ‘Jane’, an underground network led by Sigourney Weaver’s no-nonsense Virginia, who provide safe abortions for women in need.

Joy’s subsequent feminist awakening forms the film’s main arc, but its real pleasures – and its power – lie in its depiction of community and resistance across social and political divides. At a time when access to abortion in America is under threat, Call Jane is an urgent reminder of the freedoms once again at stake.

- Rowan Woods