It Only Scratched the Surface

Rating: 4/10 (3 March 2017)

I expected that this film would give us an insight into Jackie Kennedy's personality, her life and career before marriage, and her life after JFK's assassination. I expected it would show us that Jackie was more than just the President's wife, whose only job was to look good at state occasions. Unfortunately, Jackie portrays Jackie as nothing without Jack.
Jackie shows the events that took place in the week that followed the assassination of JFK, with few flashbacks of Jackie's tour of the White House and of her marriage. It is all presented as a modern-day fairy tale of a woman that got married to a powerful man and lived in a big white castle as a princess. JFK's numerous infidelities, Jackie's friendship with Aristotle Onassis, the cracks the two of them had in their marriage, the Cold War - it is nowhere to be found. The Cuban missile crisis is only barely mentioned.
I also think that the writer should have included more of the other members of the Kennedy family. Bobby and Rose Kennedy are the only one that have lines. Jack, Ethel, Ted, Joan, Joseph Kennedy - I don't think they are even presented to us. As if they didn't play any parts in this story. Bobby is shown as Jackie's biggest support after JFK's death, but their relationships is dealt with in a very superficial way.
Natalie Portman gives an amazing performance as Jackie, and she deserved her Oscar nomination. John Hurt, Greta Gerwig and Billy Cudrup all do their characters justice. Peter Sarsgaard was, in my opinion, completely miscast as Bobby.
This film is worth watching only for Natalie Portman's performance, nice visuals, pretty costumes and settings. If you want to find it more about the Kennedy family, watch Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot (2001).