Review 402: Jackie

Jackie is a sensational bio-pic, a gripping character study and a showcase for a another brilliant performance from Natalie Portman.

In the aftermath of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy’s (Natalie Portman) world is completely shattered. Traumatised and reeling with grief, over the course of the next week she must confront the unimaginable: consoling their two young children, vacating the home she painstakingly restored and planning her husband’s funeral. Jackie quickly realises that the next seven days will determine how history will define her husband’s legacy - and how she herself will be remembered.

The plot is a superbly crafted, well rounded look at the 35th First Lady of the United States of America.
From a historical stand point, the film primary covers the days after the assassination of JFK. John and Jackie Kennedy were just driving through Dallas on this sunny beautiful day then, all of a sudden, in one fell swoop it’s over.
In the 4-5 days that followed, she had to make some very important decisions and somehow put the entire pain of the country over her back. In a lot of ways, this is the story of a mother, not just in the sense of Jackie Kennedy as a mother of her two kids but one to a whole country. 

Director Pablo Larrian's direction is sensitive, expertly and deftly handling a large ensemble cast to get the best out of them and giving this film an appropriate documentary like quality that it requires. He never sensationalises Jackie as an icon but instead treats her as a  The production design (recreating 1960’s Washington) is excellent. The score by Mica Levi is beautifully catchy, the costumes are simply gorgeous, the cinematography is fabulous and captures the beauty of 1960’s Washington. It truly feels that we as an audience are looking through the looking glass into another time period long past. The colours are also extremely vibrant and rich with a lot of emphasis on reds, pinks and whites. 

The acting is terrific, Natalie Portman was just the perfect choice to play a complex, complicated & multilayered figure. In the aftermath of the assassination of JFK, Jackie’s is completely gutted, her world has fallen apart. In the days following the assassination, she had to make some pretty important decisions and put the pain of her country over her head. She was very much a trailblazer and was able to reach the American people and knew how to do it and how to connect with them.
Jackie had to pretend to be some many different people at different times and through her trying to keep up those various images we get to see of these different sides to this person
She had to be a mother, a fashion icon, a symbol to the American people and a powerful political figure in some very troubling times and Portman beautifully captures all of these different sides to Jackie Kennedy as well as her mannerisms, her voice as well as physical gestures. She is playing someone who is performing for the media, she was put on a pedestal in the aftermath of this event and is suddenly having to orchestrate not only the grief that the country feels but manufacture the way the media and the public will receive the legacy of John,

You never truly know who people are and the films portrayal of Jackie Kennedy's personal life is very indicative of that.

Peter Sarsgaard is also terrific playing Robert Kennedy. Throughout the film, he serves as a reminder of what reality is as Jackie spins off. His brother was assassinated and he has to deal with the political fallout of that.

Greta Gerwig is fantastic playing Nancy Tuckerman, Nancy was Jackie’s most trusted confidant being her personal secretary and trusts her like she trusts no one else. Over the course of the film, Nancy proves to be nothing more than a genuine and loyal friend to Jackie and someone who gives her a shoulder to cry on.

Billy Crudup is a very strong presence playing an unnamed journalist (who's a composite character of historians Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Theodore H. White and William Manchester) who comes to interview Jackie in the week following the Kennedy assassination.
Watching Crudup, you get the sense that he's a guy who just doesn't want to be there and doesn't want to be conducting this interview, but has to grit his teeth and do his job.

Richard E. Grant

John Hurt (in his final film role) provides a strong voice of reason as a Priest who Jackie seeks out  He is the one person in the film whom she can be open with 

5/5.

The Anonymous Critic.