Portman's "Jackie" is much more neurotic than poised

Rating: 2/10 (4 February 2017)

There are few films that I question the necessity of making in the first place. Jackie, a historical drama chronicling our former first lady's practical and emotional reactions to the events leading up to and during the funeral of our 35th president, is one such film. What possibly can be learned about someone's life chronicling the time period leading up to a funeral—an event where any person would be most vulnerable?
Instead of perhaps imagining what kind of relationship Jackie had with Jack Kennedy when he was alive, director Pablo Larrain prefers to bring us pale imitations of historical TV broadcasts (such as Jackie's famed 1962 televised tour of the White House) or the more salacious exploding head of JFK when he's hit by the assassin's bullet (haven't we seen enough of that on Youtube in clip after clip of the Zapruder film?).
Larrain, utilizing a screenplay by Noah Oppenheim, creates a fictional framing device, an imagined interview between Jackie Kennedy and a fictional reporter (played by a somewhat unkempt Billy Crudup) at Hyannisport, asking a slew of inappropriate questions of Jackie regarding her recent recollection as to the the events leading up to JFK's funeral.
Even if one concedes there is a necessity in presenting such a behind the scenes look, there has to be a determined verisimilitude in the presentation. Actors have to look and sound like the historical personages they're playing; otherwise, the events won't seem real at all, and one will get the impression that we're looking at a mere imitation of the events as opposed to the real McCoy.
The number one offender here is of course Natalie Portman, who does fairly well in re-creating Jackie's way of speaking which reminds one of a muted Carol Channing, but is unable to convey any of her poise or gravitas. Instead, she aims to present Jackie as a neurotic, perhaps made more unhinged by the assassination. Mick LaSalle, writing in the SF Chronicle, hits the nail on the head when he writes: "But no insight can be gleaned or arrived at through a portrayal of Jackie Kennedy as having been a fragile, emotional cripple at the height of her influence and popularity. Once that happens, we're just not talking about the same woman anymore, and all that's left is an actress playing dress-up in a bloodstained pink Chanel suit and a pillbox hat."
Worse than Portman is Peter Sarsgaard as Bobby Kennedy. In perhaps the worst casting choice in a few decades, Sarasgaard doesn't look or sound like Bobby in the least and appears as a strange interloper opposite Portman. John Carroll Lynch as LBJ also doesn't feel like he inhabits the body of our former president but Beth Grant is great as Lady Bird and Caspar Phillipson is decent enough as JFK, during the brief scenes in which he appears.
In addition to the salacious moments of the assassination itself, the Jackie "plot" mainly focuses on her indecision as to whether the participants at the funeral should walk with the casket, causing security concerns. There are more effective moments where Jackie must explain JFK's death to Caroline and John Jr., but even those somehow feel intrusive, even after all these years. Speaking of intrusive, director Larrain is determined to inject Mica Levi's overly mournful music into almost scene, reminding us that we're continually in the midst of a funeral.
Only the late John Hurt as a consoling priest to Jackie brings any true gravitas to the overall proceedings.
If you wish to learn about Jackie Kennedy there are many documentaries and features that are way better than this one. Kyle Smith writing in the NY Post perhaps provides the most efficient benediction for this hapless project: "Jackie" does more than a disservice — bordering on an insult — to its subject: It's so obtuse about the history of mores that it's the equivalent of showing Abraham Lincoln reading the Gettysburg Address off a teleprompter."