The Janes
HBO | Release Date: June 8, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
ConsequenceErin BradyJun 8, 2022
While some aspects of that history should have been examined more introspectively, the documentary should be considered the definitive recounting of one of the most influential activist groups in American history. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonJun 9, 2022
It’s a gripping historical document, regardless of where one stands on the central argument. Read full review
90
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganJan 29, 2022
No fiction could hope to match the strangeness and sadness of the truth here. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireJun 8, 2022
The documentary from directors Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes briskly tells the story of The Jane Collective, which helped thousands of women obtain abortions when they were still illegal in the late 1960s and early ‘70s...the story of their daring remains frighteningly relevant nearly 50 years later as it appears that Roe is increasingly in jeopardy, providing an undercurrent of tension throughout. Read full review
88
Paste MagazineShayna Maci WarnerJun 7, 2022
If anything, The Janes is a call to find and form networks in one’s own community. It’s a reminder, as the inevitability of another abortion ban inches closer and closer every day, there will always be people who disregard what is lawful in favor of what is right—and documentary can be a tool in teaching what, who and how to effectively parse and evade that lawful, undeniably wrong side of history. Read full review
88
The Associated PressMark KennedyJun 7, 2022
Lessin and Pildes do a masterful job of putting the Janes in historical context, seeing how their desire to offer safe abortions grew out of the revolutionary ’60s and yet how women’s issues were often deemed secondary to male-led efforts. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 6, 2022
Directors Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes do nomination-worthy work in telling the story of what women had to endure in the years immediately preceding Roe v. Wade — and how one group of smart, independent, determined, resourceful and brave women in Chicago created an underground network to facilitate illegal but safe abortions for literally thousands of individuals from 1968-1973. Read full review
83
The PlaylistMarya E. GatesJun 10, 2022
While it is great that the documentary gives their commitment to direct action proper respect, it sometimes downplays exactly how important the work of activists who got abortion legalized in states like New York, or who got Roe through the court system was. Where it does succeed well is in showing the socio-economic disparity in access to safe abortions, which cost roughly 5 times as much as a month of rent. Read full review
83
IndieWireKate ErblandJan 29, 2022
Lessin, Pildes, and their many subjects eschew cheap emotion in favor of something much more intimate and, ultimately, more honest. Read full review
80
SlateDana StevensJun 8, 2022
Now, nearly 50 years later, Americans’ reproductive choice is again in jeopardy, making The Janes not only a crucial part of the historical record but a searingly contemporary film about the power of mutual aid and collective action. Read full review
80
CNNBrian LowryJun 7, 2022
Featuring women involved in an underground network, the HBO presentation is a snapshot that echoes far beyond its specific moment. Read full review
80
VarietyGuy LodgeJan 29, 2022
In sticking to the facts, it remains plenty rousing. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 8, 2022
Ideally, with Roe about to be erased from the books, The Janes would land on a more complex note of imminent, controversial change afoot. Small matters. It’s a very fine film Read full review
75
TheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanJan 29, 2022
It’s a shame that Lessin and Pildes don’t tell us what these amazing women went on to do after the Collective ended. But they all remain, half a century later, passionate and eloquent and thoughtful and fierce. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayJun 10, 2022
What really resonates are the memories of women helping women by talking openly about the specific economic and health concerns that the male-dominated establishment typically ignored. JANE’s supportive atmosphere opened eyes, showing a possibility of a world where everyone, regardless of social status, could be seen and heard. Read full review
70
SlashfilmSarah MilnerJun 10, 2022
The documentary makes an effort to drive home just how much harm illegal abortions cause — but in terms of the presentation, more could have been done to highlight the horrific and tragic nature of the real history. Read full review
70
The New York TimesBeatrice LoayzaJun 9, 2022
Cookie-cutter though it is, The Janes does have something going for it: its interview subjects, the former Janes, who all speak about their beliefs and shared past with striking clarity. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenJan 29, 2022
Speaking with a number of the women who broke the law in the name of justice, and others who were involved in their underground network, The Janes directors Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes have made an urgent and thoroughly engaging group portrait. Read full review
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