Jackie (2016)

Genres

Biography | Drama

Director

Pablo Larrain

Countries

USA | Chile | France

Cast

Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, John Hurt, Max Casella, Billy Crudup, Beth Grant, Richard E. Grant, John Carroll Lynch, Sunnie Pelant, Caspar Phillipson

Storyline

After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (Caspar Phillipson), First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (Natalie Portman) fights to establish her husband's legacy and the world of "Camelot" that she created and loved so well.

Opinion

I've been waiting for "Jackie" for a long time because of Natalie Portman. Then people said it was great and I wanted to see it even more. However, in my country, it has been advertised as one of the best films of the year which I knew wasn't going to be true and it ended up lowering my expectations. Well, at least I wasn't disappointed. This film is far away from what I read it would be. It didn't amaze me, it just bored me.

The main reason is probably because there wasn't a plot. The film only shows Jackie Kennedy trying to pull herself together and planning her husband's funeral which clearly isn't' (interesting) enough to make a film about it. Also, the pace is terribly slow.

I wouldn't care for the plot if the film was able to provide a solid character study. Unfortunately, this is not the case. I am not very familiar with Jackie Kennedy but I walked into the movie knowing she was a beautiful, intelligent and rich woman married to the most famous leader of the free world. I walked out knowing something else: she acted as if she was the only woman in the entire world whose husband died and as if she was the only one who has lost a family member. I don't know what the goal of Pablo Larrain was, but I sure didn't feel any compassion for her, if anything I despised her a little.

However, "Jackie" isn't a complete mess. Visually it's wonderful. The editing, cinematography, set design, costumes and makeup are indeed spectacular.

Natalie Portman is great. There wasn't much she could do with that script but she managed to deliver an astonishing and emotional performance as Jackie Kennedy. She wasn't as good as in "Black Swan" though. Peter Sarsgaard also does an excellent job portraying a broken Bobby Kennedy.