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At a time when women’s rights in the US are gravely under threat, Phyllis Nagy’s all-star film is a passionate call-to-arms.
Set in August 1968, five years before the verdict on Roe v Wade changed abortion rights in the US, the film follows Joy, a happily married mother of one who, when advised by a doctor that her second pregnancy could threaten her life, finds any alternative near-impossible. In an early scene, a group of male doctors discuss Joy’s condition as she silently sits in the room, barely even acknowledging her presence. Already drawn to the activism of the times, Joy decides to act on her situation, contacting the Jane Collective, a group who help woman access the medical needs they require.
Elizabeth Banks plays Joy, with Sigourney Weaver as Virginia, the leader of the Jane Collective. Nagy’s film is direct and to the point, arguing that women’s rights over their body should not be up for discussion but an alienable right enshrined in law.
