Jackie

Plot synopsis:
The film begins with a close-up of Jackie Kennedy (Natalie Portman). We are told were in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts in November 1963. A journalist (Billy Crudup) arrives at the home that Jackie is temporarily living in. He tells Jackie that he is sorry for her loss. She notes it's been one week and the press is writing really horrible things about her. She tells the journalist that she will be editing this conversation. He tells her that is unlikely.The interview begins and Jackie says she is glad she was with him (John F. Kennedy, whom she refers to as Jack) when it happened. The journalist tells her he was impressed with the tour of the White House Jackie did for CBS a few years earlier and that she could have been a broadcaster.We flashback to 1962, a year earlier, when Jackie is filming the special for CBS. Her social secretary, Nancy (Greta Gerwig) is there, reviewing some last minute notes with Jackie. We then see footage from the special which would go on to have an audience of 56 million people. Jackie talks about how she is acquiring historical items for the White House since nothing in it is older than 60 years. She assures the American people that the restoration is being done on her dime instead of through taxpayers money. She shows the reporter the room where they hired a conductor to play music for them. The reporter notes that the Kennedys seem to have an affinity for artists, musicians, writers, and poets.In present day, the journalist asks Jackie about her faith but she doesn't answer. She tells him she was a reporter once and suspects he wants to know about the sound the bullet made when it collided with her husband's skull. We flashback to a week earlier where Jackie is on Air Force One on her way to Dallas, practicing a speech she'll give in Spanish. When her husband and her exit the plane, they are greeted by a large crowd. Lyndon Johnson (John Carroll Lynch) and Lady Bird (Beth Grant) meet up with them and they continue on to a limo.In the present, Jackie tells the journalist, in graphic detail, what it was like having a piece of Jack's skull come off in front of her and his brains and blood in her lap. But she then tells the journalist he won't be publishing what she just said. He follows her suggestion and asks what the bullet sounded like. We hear a loud bang and see a motorcade racing the limousine to the hospital with Jackie and her dying husband in the back.Jackie is back on the Air Force One, crying, wiping dried blood off her face. She is summoned and goes out to the conference room in Air Force One where Lyndon Johnson is sworn into office. This is an overwhelming thing for Jackie to witness given what she has just gone through.Time passes and Jackie asks a Secret Service agent about the bullet. He says they don't know yet. She tells someone else that they need to hire the Irish Cadets for the funeral because Jack loved them. She is told that they'll be exiting from the rear of the plane to avoid press. Jackie doesn't want to hide but instead, wants to exit the usual way. She is told when they land, they will head to the hospital for an autopsy. This upsets Jackie who wants to know what will happen at an autopsy. Lady Bird asks Jackie if she wants her to help her change before they land since she is still in the blood-stained clothes. Jackie reminds Lady Bird of all the Wanted posters with Jacks face on them (stating he was wanted for treason) and wants all of his detractors to see what they've done.The plane lands and Bobby Kennedy (Peter Sarsgaard) enters. Bobby and Jackie exit the plane and ride in an ambulance with Jacks casket. Jackie wants the casket closed at the funeral but Bobby tells her hes not sure it can be since he was a Head of State. She tells him Jacks head was blown to pieces and she tried to hold his head together. Jackie watches as they do an autopsy on her husband. Jackie wonders who the shooter was. She complains that her husband warned her they were going to nut country but things had gone so well in the other parts of Texas they visited.In the ambulance, carrying Jack and his casket back to the White House, Jackie asks the driver if he knew who James Garfield or William McKinley were. He doesn't know either. She asks if he knows who Abraham Lincoln was. She is told he won the Civil War and abolished slavery. Jackie notes that all three presidents died while in office but only Lincoln is remembered. She tells Bobby they need books on Lincoln's funeral.Jackie goes into her bedroom in the White House. She finally takes off the bloody pink Chanel suit she is wearing and peels off her blood-stained pantyhose. She washes up in the shower, blood rushing off her face.Back in present day, the journalist points out Jackie will have to get personal eventually because shell be hounded until she does. She asks if he wants to be famous; he says no but she points out this article will bring him a lot of attention.In the White House, Jackie is given a rundown of Lincoln's funeral which was a grand procession all over D.C. Jackie mentions how her husband would spend a lot of money on getting votes but would always complain when she bought paintings for her restoration project. The cultural advisor tells Jackie the worlds gone mad and it might be better if she takes the children and hides (so as not to get assassinated during the procession). Hes interrupted by Nancy who tells Jackie the children are awake. Jackie goes into Caroline's bedroom and explains to the children that their father has gone to look over their baby brother Patrick in Heaven. Caroline doesn't understand so she finally tells her that a very bad man hurt their father.The East Room of the White House has become a mass, mourning the loss of JFK. John Jr. stands up and runs away but is scooped up by his Uncle Bobby. Afterwards, Jacks mother tells Jackie she expects her son will be buried at the family plot. Simultaneously, Lyndon Johnson's aide, Jack Valenti (Max Casella), argues with Bobby about the funeral, saying a procession is insane. He says he doesn't want HIS president (meaning LBJ) walking in public. Bobby tells him his brother is going to be carried in public regardless in a casket and then tells him to fuck off.Jackie voices her concern that they wont have much money now that she has to return to the life of a civilian. She suggests selling back the furniture she bought from collectors in order to have enough money to put Caroline and John Jr. through college.Back on the CBS special, Jackie admires a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, painted one week before his assassination. She shows off some of the furniture that used to belong to the Lincolns., as well as the Gettysburg Address.Jackie comes into Bobby's office while he watches Lee Harvey Oswald on TV. She interrupts to tell him that she doesn't want Jack buried in the family plot. Jackie is then seen at Arlington National Cemetery, looking for the perfect spot for her husband.In present day, Jackie says that she doesn't have a home. The journalist asks why she doesn't just live in the compound they're currently at. She tells him its cold there and he suggests lighting a fire and throwing a party. She asks why she would throw a party at that time. She says this house isn't hers and neither was the White House; every First Lady has to be prepared to have her suitcase packed.At the White House, Bobby tells Jackie that they're worried an outdoor procession will be a security risk. But Jackie is firm that they have to march with Jacks casket. That night, Jackie revisits the Presidential bedroom and turns on a Victrola where a song from Camelot plays. She enters her own bedroom and goes through her wardrobe. Then she enters the Oval Office and sits at the Presidents desk. The song from Camelot finally ends.Jackie walks with a priest (John Hurt) through a park. She tells him she thinks God is cruel. He says "God is love and is everywhere". She asks if he was in the bullet that killed her husband and if he's inside her all the time. He says, yes, and she says its a funny game for him to be hiding all the time. She asks, "what kind of God takes a husband from his two children?" And takes her two babies one in the womb and her baby, Patrick, 39 hours after he was born.The next day, Jackie asks Nancy for a list of people attending the White House. Jackie tells Nancy she used to worry that Nancy was jealous of her which would have been ridiculous because shes buried two children and a husband. Nancy says she was once jealous of the dress Jackie wore in Vienna. Nancy promises to stay with Jackie despite her leaving the White House.In the White Houses sitting room, LBJ, Lady Bird, Bobby and his wife watch on TV as Lee Oswald is being escorted to the jailhouse only to be assassinated by Jack Ruby. Upstairs, Jackie is getting ready for the procession. Downstairs, LBJ says they have to get a handle on the situation because its making them look like a bunch of barbarians. Bobby demands no one tell Jackie what has just happened. Simultaneously, Jackie is telling a secret service agent that she needs to talk to Lee Harvey Oswald, to find out why he did what he did. The agent tells her he doesn't know if she can but says no more. Nancy suggests Jackie and her children exit through the back to avoid the press. Jackie thinks the press should capture two heartbroken, fatherless children.Jackie leads her children out to the front of the White House. A horse-drawn carriage with John F. Kennedys body is parked in front. Jackie rides past photographers and mourners in a limo. When they get to the Senate steps, Jackie greets Lyndon and notes its an awful way for him to begin his presidency. Later, she kneels at Jacks casket at the Capitol Rotunda.Time has passed. Jackie rushes into Bobby's office and yells at him about not telling her about Lee Oswald being assassinated. She feels she put her childrens life in danger knowing how easily people are shooting others when they go outside. She wonders if the parade is really to help Bobby when he campaigns for president. She now thinks its not worth putting their lives in danger over.We find Jackie and the priest again, walking through the park. Jackie confesses she wishes shed had an ordinary job and married an ordinary man. The priest tells her God is working through Jackie.Jackie is shown red carpet that has been laid down in the Oval Office, which is something she previously requested, along with green carpet in the Treaty Room which shes told was also added. She notes that her husband had thought her ideas about decorating the White House was a vanity project but she insists its to share the White Houses history with the public.Bobby finds Jackie in the Lincoln Bedroom and tells her the following day, everyone will ride through the city and there will be no procession. Bobby notes that being in the Lincoln Bedroom reminds him that one man freed millions of people from slavery. He notes that its bad that their legacy was wasted. He fears Jack will be remembered for being a beautiful person but nothing else he might have handled the missile crisis but he also created it. Bobby wishes they had done more, like for Civil Rights and the space program.Jackie walks around the White House and sees workers packing up all her belongings. Finally, Jackie joins in, walking around and begins throwing things into boxes. She finds Jack Valenti in Bobby's office, unpacking his own belongings while having simultaneously arranged for hers to be packed up. He immediately tells Jackie hes just doing his job. Valenti notes that he heard Jackie has requested a more modest funeral. Jackie tells him shes changed her mind and wants a procession again where shell walk to the Cathedral. Valenti debates that the country couldn't endure another assassination and tells her a lot of head of state will be there, including a general who already has been threatened. Jackie tells him to deliver the message that she will walk with her husband the following day, even if alone. And if the general is so concerned about his safety, he can ride in an armored car and the millions of people watching wont blame him. She then repeats what he said, stating that she's just doing her job.In present day, Jackie tells the journalist that presidents will look up to her husband for years to come. He points out that her husband didn't do anything extraordinary like abolish slavery.The procession takes place with Jackie appreciating all the mourners who have come out. She is then seen talking to the priest again, admitting that she thinks the event wasn't to honor Jack but for herself. She tells the priest that before she walked with the casket, she wrote a letter stating that she wanted to die. If she was shot while going outside, shed consider it a kind gesture. The march continues, with Jackie holding onto Bobby. In present day, she tells the journalist she has been lying when she says she doesn't remember the assassination. And then we see it John F. Kennedy is shot in the head and he collapses onto Jackie, who is covered in blood. Panic ensues. She tells the journalist she felt she could have saved him if she had stopped the bleeding.Jackie asks to read the journalists notes and then begins making changes. While she writes in his journal, he tells her Jackie has left a mark on the country, which is going through a somber period because losing a president is like losing a father. He adds that she has been like their mother, especially with the entire country watching the funeral. He tells Jackie people will remember her for years to come.Its a year earlier and Jackie is finishing the White House tour for the CBS special. Jack is interviewed and says he appreciates her effort to reacquaint people with the men who used to live in the White House before her. This is intercut with Jackie leaving the White House, watching Lady Bird go over fabric swatches, ready to undo all the decoration Jackie had worked on for years. Jackie and her children are loaded into a limousine and driven away.Jackie now tells the journalist that Jack and her would listen to records at night before bed and his favorite was Camelot. Jack loved history and Camelot was about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. She states there will be other presidents but there will never be another Camelot.The priest asks Jackie why she wanted to talk to him; she has confessed she wants to die but he tells her he is not burying her that day. He adds that there comes a time in mans search for meaning when he realizes there are no answers. The priest then confesses that every night, he goes to bed and wonders, Is this all there is? He theorizes that everybody wonders the same thing.The journalist dictates the interview over the phone, to his editor. He then leaves, wishing Jackie a good night. We see Jackie with the priest again, telling him how the journalist wrote down every word and his article has been reprinted all over the globe. And maybe they'll all believe in Camelot now. Later, the priest gives a sermon in front of Jacks grave. He has been buried next to his two children that died.In the White House, a plaque is mounted outside Jackie's former bedroom that reads "In this room lived John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, during the two years, ten months, and two days he was President of the United States.Jackie rides in a limo through D.C. She notices a man carrying a mannequin over her shoulder that looks like her, that is wearing the same Chanel dress she had worn. She sees workers unloading dozens of identical mannequins from a truck, into a Macy's Department Store. The world has become fascinated with her.We see another clip from the CBS special where Jackie says shes proud of her husband. She is then seen seated in the White House with her husband and Bobby as an opera is performed, as discussed in the CBS interview yet on the soundtrack, instead of the classical music, all we hear is Camelot.

Tags: flashback

Review:
I'm surprised to see so many bad reviews of this film on IMDb. I would be interested to know how many of them came from people who are too young to remember the Kennedy assassination or much about Mrs. Kennedy.Okay, several people were angry that John-John in the movie didn't salute the casket.One review referred to the story as "horrible and morbid." Guess what - it is.One review said Jackie was a "housewife." I won't dignify that with a response.Natalie Portman was criticized for doing a "cringe-worthy" imitation.
It's concerned with how someone copes in the spotlight, how someone can make a legacy from the idea of a thing, how a person is more important than their legend but also how their legend shapes how that person is forever perceived.It's telling in the universe of the film that Jackie herself is first obsessed with redesigning the White House in what is ostensibly a superficial act of decorating, but then is revealed to be, in reality, attempting to reflect more than the legends of past presidents but also the men who shaped them.
Natalie Portman's performance does indeed capture Jackie Kennedy's persona, but also the legend of her and the real woman behind it all.
Famous images of Jacqueline Kennedy in her pink Chanel suit have lingered in the public's collective memory for years, but here, Larrain allows viewers to experience the week following JFK's assassination from the perspective of the woman who held his dying body in her arms.
The film's central performance by Natalie Portman will no doubt gain great attention for its dedication to every last nuance of Jackie Kennedy's mannerisms and voice, but the real success rests in Portman's relentless and layered conveyance of emotion throughout the film.
The portrayal of this type of personality at a time (the 2-3 days following JFK's death) where personal and national perception was everything is unlike anything I have seen in film.Between script, art direction and cinematography, this movie is equally brilliant in its ability to say everything without saying anything.
Being a history and film buff I had to see "Jackie" as it's a historical film of the memories and times of the life and assassination of President John Kennedy, as told thru flashback and grief trauma memories from the elegant and class act first lady Jackie Kennedy(in a beautiful performance from the wonderful Natalie Portman).
Starting like an interview style of a film told by flashback flashback the movie takes place after the death of "JFK", as Jackie is interviewed about the experience and the memories of the death and the impact of the administration, all of this brings out sorrow and emotions from Jackie(as Natalie showed the grief and anger on screen so well)it's just like you as the viewer feel the pain of the first lady.
Hopping backwards and forwards in flashback, the film centres on the first interview given by Jackie (Natalie Portman, "Black Swan") to a 'Time' journalist (Billy Crudup, "Watchmen", "Spotlight").Through this interview we flashback to see Jackie as the young First Lady engaged in recording a TV special for a tour of the White House: nervous, unsure of herself and with a 'baby girl' voice.
We live the film through Jackie's eyes as she experiences the arrival in Dallas, the traumatic events of November 22nd in Dealey Plaza, the return home to Washington and the complicated arrangement of the President's funeral.This is an acting tour de force for Natalie Portman, who is astonishingly emotional as the grief-stricken ex-first lady.
Having already won the Golden Globe for an actress in a dramatic role, you would be a foolish man to bet against her not taking the Oscar.In a key supporting role is Peter Sarsgaard ("The Magnificent Seven") as Bobby Kennedy (although his lookalike is not one of the best: that accolade I would give to Gaspard Koenig, in an un-speaking role, as the young Ted Kennedy).Also providing interesting support as Jackie's priest is John Hurt ("Alien", "Dr Who") and, as Jackie's close friend, the artist Bill Walton, is Richard E Grant ("Withnail and I", who as he grows older is looking more and more like Geoffrey Rush – I was sure it was him!).Director Pablo Larraín (whose previous work I am not familiar with) automatically assumes that EVERYONE has the background history to understand the narrative without further explanation: perhaps as this happened 54 years ago, this is a bit of a presumption for younger viewers?
That being said, I think it was pretty ballsy of her taking on an American icon, and her work, particularly in trying to get Jackie's "breathless" voice, is commendable though NOT Oscar-worthy.Just too many long camera shots - five minutes to watch her from behind walking through rooms of the White House...several times I caught myself yawning.
The expressionless face of Billy Crudup as the interviewer - yawn again - and absolutely abysmal minor chords pretending to be a movie musical score, more jarring than anything on screen.Having just watched The American Experience's terrific RFK documentary a week or so ago, I was struck by why the director would chose a fifty-something, tall, heavy-set actor to play a 34 or 35 year old slim-ish, not very tall Bobby Kennedy - the actor showing almost no emotion at all when Bobby was known to flair up, shout, and when moved, express his emotions.The reason I give this a 3 instead of a 2 is the lovely performance by John Hurt as the priest.
If you thought Helen Mirren as THE QUEEN, Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf, and Meryl Streep as THE IRON LADY gave great, deservedly Oscar-winning performances in biopics, know that Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy gives a performance here that's every bit in their league.
Whether it was the material that defeated him or simply working in English from a script that was never that good in the first place, Pablo Larrain's "Jackie" is a classic example of how not to attempt a biopic but then, of course, this isn't really a biopic at all but an account of the Kennedy assassination and the events immediately following it as told to a journalist by Jackie herself.In the title role Natalie Portman does bear some physical resemblance to her character but she, too, is defeated by the demands of the part; this isn't acting but mimicry and other fine actors follow suit.
So it becomes an intimate, uncomfortable at times (in a good way), deeply felt, sometimes too hard to take, look at what a person, any person, has to do when a loved one is taken away, while there can be little escape from the crushing public image (this often brought into conflict with Bobby Kennedy, a also excellent Peter Sarsgard - he has one of the key scenes questioning what his brother actually *did* that people will remember, ala Lincoln, which, frankly, I sometimes think about myself, that is to say if, I dunno, what if JFK was...
Jackie (2016) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Pablo Larrain directed this fascinating look at the hours, days and weeks in the life of Jackie Kennedy (Natalie Portman) after the assassination of her husband.
The film is so well-made that it's hard to really bash the director for how he decided to tell the story but either way, JACKIE is certainly an interesting take on the material and Portman clearly shines..
Although the overall concept of focusing on Jackie in the immediate aftermath of the assassination isn't a poor concept in theory (although one wonders what greater understanding of the public would result, or of what value that would actually be), in practice the film fails to convey much more than to purport a great deal of alternating anger and helplessness (but not grief) by JFK's widow.It uses a device throughout the film, that of showing Jackie's performance in a televised tour of the White House, juxtaposed with those feelings I have mentioned.
Natalies acting is great, but what a morbid, ghastly story.The way the story is framed with time frames changing all over is terrible, and the fake old film technique was a missed opportunity to show the real thing.I feel asleep for a good 10 minutes and I counted at least 5 other different storing types from throughout the cinema.
For a start, it's way to loud and tries to hard to make incredibly boring scenes dramatic.This film is so bad you actually couldn't care less for Portmans character or performance.
I had heard a lot of positive reviews for this film and have always been interested in the Kennedy assassination, had a respect for Jackie Kennedy, and had been a big fan of a majority of the cast including Portman, John Hurt, Peter Sarsgaard, and Billy Crudup.
I understand that the storyline represents the 'blur' that the days following JFK's assassination were, but it doesn't make the film more enjoyable.Natalie Portman is very good with the exception of her bizarre and unfortunate accent.
For those seeking a warts and all biopic of Jackie Kennedy, Pablo Larrain's Oscar nominated drama Jackie may not be the film you seek but this haunting and unique look at grief, celebrity and a nation defining moment in American history is a film worthy of your attention.Featuring what is arguable a career best turn by Natalie Portman as the titular one-time first lady, a stunning score by Mica Levi and a noteworthy American debut by Chilean director Larrain, Jackie is a transfixing experience that offers both an intriguing look at the assassination of JFK and the immediate effect it had on both the White House and more importantly Jackie Kennedy's life as we are shown brief glimpses of the couples time in office and Jackie's life as she recounts the fateful day of her husbands death to Billy Crudup's news reporter.The attention Larrain and his team pay to this time period and detail is impeccable as we follow Jackie along her way through the hallways and rooms of the White House or tragically in the Air Force One bathroom as Jackie cleans her blood splattered face or cradles her dead husband in her arms in the back seat of the presidential motorcade.Throughout these scenes it's Portman that remains the focus; she's the driving force of the film as Robert merely appears briefly in key moments and Larrain's camera often lingers on his leading lady in close up or for extended periods of time and we as an audience end up feeling like a fly on the wall as Jackie goes about the heartbreaking task of telling her two young children about their dad's passing or plans for JFK's funeral procession.It's all done and shown in an untypical yet effective manner, we feel Jackie's pain even if it's all very far from the usual Hollywood mode of biopics or similar politically tinged dramas.
There are no big outlandish moments for Portman to attention grab and no over-dramatized awards baiting moments, while Larrain refrains from big set-pieces, instead focusing on the smaller scale moments with only a relatively misjudged extended White House tour showcase feeling like an overused plot device in a film that's otherwise plotted out at a neat pace.A mostly fascinating experience featuring one of 2016's most fully formed central performances, Jackie is a must watch for political aficionado's or those that seek their drama with a healthy dose of intensity as Jackie ends up being a shining of the light on a terrible, yet history making time in the life of one of America's most impressive first ladies.4 cello recitals out of 5.
In Fact, so Inconsequential as to be almost Invisible by Comparison.That's one of the Fascinating and Interesting Things that this Movie can do and it Delivers, although the Focus, in this Ultra-Focused Exploration is the Week or so Following the Ill-Advised, Open-Top Trip to Dallas that Ended the Presidency and Ended the Life of Her Husband and Father of Their Children.The Film is very Personal, linked to the Political and Social Concerns.
How to Usher JFK to His Final Resting Place with Familial Respect, LBJ almost Instantaneously stepping into the Presidency, National Security and the Images that will be Presented for the Public Ceremony.Natalie Portman who Occupies Virtually Every Scene, gives a Mannered, Believable, Representation of the Widowed Jackie and Suspension of Disbelief is Solidified.
Starting with the Much Seen "Tour of the White House" that was Aired on National TV, that Interweaves In and Out of the Movie.To the Exit of Air Force one in Dallas, the Actual Murder, Johnson's Swearing in Aboard the Plane, Etc. are here to Anchor the Background but what is New is the Attempted Insight into Jackie's Thoughts, Behavior, and Near Breakdown in the Days Immediately Following November 22, 1963 and the Movie Pulls Few Punches.Overall, it is a Mesmerizing Performance in an Appropriate Dirge of a Drama, Speculating, Probing, Heartbreaking, Disturbing, and the Film Demands that You Set Your Sights and Expectations Only on the Initial Shock and the Mourning Period that Jackie Experienced..
The film is bookended with an absurdly static and unnecessary interview between Jackie and a journalist, played by Billy Crudup, during which neither could be more opaque.One gets the feeling that within Noah Oppenheim's script, there may have been an opportunity to make a movie full of heart, but instead Larraín obsessively chooses style over substance, technique over humanity.
Such poorly framed and composed shots I have not seen in a major motion picture in a very, very long time and as the story unfolds haphazardly with its clunky editing and snails pace, hope in the auditorium began to fade.I stayed awake throughout - though the task proved difficult and I cannot say the same for many of my fellow movie goers...In the end, it is such a shame as there was so much potential here that is wasted by poor editing, direction, cinematography, and score and even in spite of strong performances and a compelling script somewhere beneath, this whole production tragically falls to tedium....
OK, yes, Natalie Portman gives a good performance as Jackie Kennedy.
It takes a few minutes to get used to Natalie Portman mimicking Jacqueline Kennedy's voice, but once you do, it becomes hypnotic like everything else in this film.
"Jackie" (R, 1:40), directed by Pablo Larrain, written by Noah Oppenheim and starring Oscar-winner Natalie Portman as the title character do their best to help us peak behind the curtain and learn more about the woman behind that famous face."Life" Magazine writer Theodore H.
We get a sense of who she was as First Lady from a look at the filming (no, not taping – not in 1962) of Jackie Kennedy's famous televised tour of the White House, during which she showed and discussed her historic and artistic changes to "The People's House", as she calls it, while she receives help and support from her close aide, Nancy Tuckerman (Greta Gerwig).
Movie Fans will likely end this film feeling they know and understand more about the Kennedy assassination, its impact on the country and, most importantly, the woman most affected by it all: Jackie.
The story follows its title character through the series of days following the assassination of her husband, told mainly through Jackie's own words in an interview with a reporter.Biopics are churned out every year, and every year, like with any film, there are good ones and there are bad ones.
The use of camera-work alone in this film is astounding.While the camera was able to portray the complex personality of Jackie, there would be no point in doing that if the actress playing the title part wasn't up to par as well, and Natalie Portman is.
He gets a great performance out of Natalie Portman as Jackie, who's surreal version of the real Jackie Kennedy's voice is jarring at first, but becomes less so as the film goes on.
Powered by an enigmatic performance from Natalie Portman, Jackie paints an interesting portrait of the former First Lady of the United States and is a skilfully envisioned biographical drama that's emotionally dense & involving at times but it is unfortunately marred by its filmmaker's inability to provide a proper structure & uniform flow to its storyline, thus resulting in a fragmented narrative.Jackie tells the story of Jacqueline Kennedy and covers the ordeal she goes through following the assassination of her husband & then US President, John F.
The plot offers a rare glimpse into her well-guarded personality by focusing on events before & after the tragic incident, like her much publicised tour of the White House, JFK's funeral arrangements, and an attempt to establish her husband's legacy.Directed by Pablo Larraín, Jackie is his first English-language film and although he presents some neat ideas regarding what part to include & which direction to take the story in, he messes it all up by trying to juggle too many subplots at once, thus resulting in unexpected tonal shifts and jarring scenes.
And last but not the least, the stinging score from Mica Levi is chilling at first but it turns repetitive after a while and doesn't leave much of an impact.Coming to the performances, Jackie features a reliable cast in Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup & John Hurt in what turned out to be his final role.
His point, I think, was to have the audience lost in the same fog as Jackie and that might sound like a good idea for a film on paper, but it just didn't work as it was played out over time.Adding to this is the intrusive score by Mica Levi (UNDER THE SKIN).
Based on the life of Jacqueline Kennedy (played by Natalie Portman), this film portrays her response after the 1963 assassination of her husband John via an interview for Life magazine and flashbacks.The movie's first half is superb.
Natalie Portman's portrayal of Jackie Kennedy struggling after JFK's assassination feels so real.