Beautifully told

Rating: 10/10 (5 February 2017)

The audience I saw this film with were mesmerized. they sat still and silent in their seats until well into the credits. I know a lot of people won't like this film because it is slow, and the music is not a 1963 soundtrack (but for one song), and its not a sweeping biopic. It is about one very famous woman's life during three horrific days - with a few flashbacks. This is an intimate portrayal of Jackie's reaction and response to the events of JFK's death and burial.
Jackie is a masterpiece. Sarsgaard may not have been the best choice for Bobby and the music was tedious at times... but Portman captured the essence of Jackie. She showed how Jackie was trying to say and do the right things according to her role as the bereaved widow of the president, but simultaneously showed her as a grief stricken widow who wanted to crumble and hide away. I thought the film captured Jackie as a complex vulnerable, controlling, heartbroken, dutiful, drama queen (and I mean that in the best possible way!) She lost her husband, her job, her home - and all in front of cameras for posterity.
The director made some smart choices - rather than duplicating the scene of John John saluting (in that very studied, coaxed way), there is a scene where Jackie is bringing in a cake for his third birthday - the same day as his father's funeral. This is happening as her home is being packed up around her to make way for President Johnson. It is in screen shots like that, and in the extreme close-up of her in the back of the convertible in the moments after the shots were fired that the viewer is left spellbound.
We all know this story from an outside point of view, but this is the first time we see it from the inside.