Jackie
Go! A raw portrait of an American icon's grief.
JFK's assassination through Jackie's eyes.
The assassination of John F. Kennedy is one of the most significant events in American history. Politically profound, it was also a modern media watershed – how many other murders have been recorded and repeatedly televised, let alone one so shocking, gory and consequential? Pored over by filmmakers, writers, journalists and conspiracy theorists, it even helped to propel Trump to the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination, 53 years after it happened. Yet, for all the rumination, relatively little consideration has been given to the person who suffered the most profound affect. The person who was closer to the victim and his death than any other: his wife, Jacqueline. Jackie, directed by Chilean, Pablo Larraín, in his first English language feature, seeks to rectify that.
The film primarily covers the aftermath of the shooting, up to JFK’s funeral three days later. With Natalie Portman (Jane Got a Gun, Black Swan) as the lead, the story is a re-imagining of Jackie’s experiences at that time, knitted together by an interview with Life journalist Theodore White (Billy Crudup, Watchmen), held a week after the assassination. It is an intense and bleak 99 minutes, speeding us through: a First Lady in a blood-spattered suit, dealing with the awkwardness of democratic procedure; a mother attempting to rationalise bereavement to her children; a widow wrestling with an adulterous President’s legacy; and a woman left isolated and bereft, but expected to perform in front of the entire world.
Shot close-up by Larraín on grainy, technicolor film (matching archival footage from the time), Jackie’s aesthetic, coupled with Portman’s precise replication of her character’s accent and mannerisms, make the tale extremely intimate, sensitive and realistic. The almost-constant, sparse, classical score is often the only reminder that it is indeed a work of fiction. Even if sudden cuts back and forward in time are occasionally disorientating, the blurring between reality and fiction keep it as enthralling as it is painful. Supporting figures of JFK’s brother, Bobby Kennedy (Peter Sarsgaard, Blue Jasmine), White House Social Secretary, Nancy Tuckerman (Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha) and Priest Richard McSorley (John Hurt, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) are all well-cast and well-played, but virtually the entire movie belongs to the outstanding actress at its helm.
Shot close-up by Larraín on grainy, technicolor film (matching archival footage from the time), Jackie’s aesthetic, coupled with Portman’s precise replication of her character’s accent and mannerisms, make the tale extremely intimate, sensitive and realistic. The almost-constant, sparse, classical score is often the only reminder that it is indeed a work of fiction. Even if sudden cuts back and forward in time are occasionally disorientating, the blurring between reality and fiction keep it as enthralling as it is painful. Supporting figures of JFK’s brother, Bobby Kennedy (Peter Sarsgaard, Blue Jasmine), White House Social Secretary, Nancy Tuckerman (Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha) and Priest Richard McSorley (John Hurt, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) are all well-cast and well-played, but virtually the entire movie belongs to the outstanding actress at its helm.
Much more than a mere biographical portrait of a historical figure, it is an emotionally seismic film, with a devastating performance from Portman at its trembling epicentre. She is a weeping and fragile, yet stoic and pugnacious totem of grief among the glamour of Jackie’s image and splendour of her station. It humanises not only the icon of Jackie Kennedy, but also the Office of the US President, which so often transforms men into myths and their wives into little more than fleshy coat-hangers. In delivering such an affecting and accurate performance, Portman allows Jackie to reveal not only a woman of substance in turmoil, but also the violent fault lines that scar the fragile crust of American democracy. It will take something extraordinary to keep her from winning her second Oscar on 26 February.
So go. At a time of Presidential controversy, particularly over its relationship with women, Jackie is well timed. Moreover, it is a film of lasting emotional impact that permits an iconic woman a depth of personality that history has too long withheld.
So go. At a time of Presidential controversy, particularly over its relationship with women, Jackie is well timed. Moreover, it is a film of lasting emotional impact that permits an iconic woman a depth of personality that history has too long withheld.
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