Frustratingly Superficial

Rating: 6/10 (5 May 2017)

If you already know a lot about Jackie Kennedy and what made the woman tick (which I don't), this film named after her and chronicling the days surrounding the assassination of her husband and our nation's president might be fascinating. Those looking to this film to teach them something about the former first lady will be sorely disappointed.
"Jackie" is a tone poem of moods, one that remains frustratingly superficial when one wants it to delve deeper into the psyche of this woman who made such a deep impression on American popular culture. Natalie Portman, who received an Oscar nomination for bringing Jackie Kennedy back to life, is pretty good I guess, but she's really only asked to convey a procession of emotions that exist independently of one another rather than create a complete character. "Jackie" is about all of the things in relation to JFK's assassination that I didn't care much about (Jackie wandering around the White House trying on gowns while chain smoking) and about none of the things that I would have found interesting (like the actual impact the event had on her and her legacy).
Billy Crudup appears as an interviewer, Greta Gerwig is on hand as Jackie's right-hand woman, and Peter Sarsgaard makes no attempt to look or sound like Bobby Kennedy. But this is Portman's film all the way.
The film received two additional Oscar nods, one for Best Costume Design, which went to Madeleine Fontaine for recreating Jackie's signature period style (including the famous pink suit) and the other for Best Original Score, for Mica Levi's sparse music.
Grade: B