"Just fall down a staircase. It worked for me."
All those men, and all those no's. Fortunately many men have different feelings on the subject matter of a woman's right to choose even if the Supreme Court doesn't. Elizabeth Banks can't get herself to fall down the stairs to terminate the pregnancy, just like a possibly suicidal person changes their mind while putting a knife to her wrist. She's a wife and mother, happy about her second pregnancy, but a possibly life threatening issue has her contemplating terminating the pregnancy, with her male doctor's advice. The patriarchal hospital board all votes no, so other options come to her attention.
Taking place a decade before Roe vs. Wade, this isn't pro or anti-abortion, just a history lesson of the better option than the shady looking characters Banks encounters in a dirty apartment building. She has a supportive husband, attorney Chris Messina, and he believes that she has suffered a miscarriage. The introduction to the Call Jane service comes through the understanding Wunmi Mosaku, and the young Cory Michael Smith performs the procedure. The support group is lead by the founder, Sigourney Weaver, determined to provide the safest and healthiest procedure, both physically and mentally. Soon Banks is pulled into the service, driving women to their "appointment", putting her marriage at risk.
There's a dry bit of humor in Weaver's character, slightly pushy, extremely blunt, and definitely manipulative, using everything in her means to provide a service where no questions are asked and no judgments are made. If "Far From Heaven" modernized the Ross Hunter/Douglas Sirk soap opera with an interracial romance, this takes it one step further and avoids the obvious exploitation aspect. I couldn't help but imagining Lana Turner in Banks' role and Agnes Moorehead in Weaver's. This aspect of expressing the film's ideals really works, and never feels manipulative or forced.
All those men, and all those no's. Fortunately many men have different feelings on the subject matter of a woman's right to choose even if the Supreme Court doesn't. Elizabeth Banks can't get herself to fall down the stairs to terminate the pregnancy, just like a possibly suicidal person changes their mind while putting a knife to her wrist. She's a wife and mother, happy about her second pregnancy, but a possibly life threatening issue has her contemplating terminating the pregnancy, with her male doctor's advice. The patriarchal hospital board all votes no, so other options come to her attention.
Taking place a decade before Roe vs. Wade, this isn't pro or anti-abortion, just a history lesson of the better option than the shady looking characters Banks encounters in a dirty apartment building. She has a supportive husband, attorney Chris Messina, and he believes that she has suffered a miscarriage. The introduction to the Call Jane service comes through the understanding Wunmi Mosaku, and the young Cory Michael Smith performs the procedure. The support group is lead by the founder, Sigourney Weaver, determined to provide the safest and healthiest procedure, both physically and mentally. Soon Banks is pulled into the service, driving women to their "appointment", putting her marriage at risk.
There's a dry bit of humor in Weaver's character, slightly pushy, extremely blunt, and definitely manipulative, using everything in her means to provide a service where no questions are asked and no judgments are made. If "Far From Heaven" modernized the Ross Hunter/Douglas Sirk soap opera with an interracial romance, this takes it one step further and avoids the obvious exploitation aspect. I couldn't help but imagining Lana Turner in Banks' role and Agnes Moorehead in Weaver's. This aspect of expressing the film's ideals really works, and never feels manipulative or forced.