Since the Cubs won the World Series, I’ll use this analogy in talking about Jackie. Ernie Banks was one of the best ballplayers ever. He starred brightly on a team that never won a championship. Well, Natalie Portman is the Ernie Banks of this film, shining as Jackie in a otherwise inept enterprise.
Jackie (Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Billy Crudup, John Hurt, Max Casella) –
Let’s get to the bottom line. Natalie Portman’s portrayal of Jackie Kennedy in Jackie will be in the discussion among the great biopic portrayals in modern movie history along with Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher and Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth. She looks the part, nails the odd Eastern patrician accent, and captures the walk, cadence and countenance of the former First Lady.
Even as we relive President Kennedy’s assassination and sympathize with Jackie’s incomprehensible grief having witnessed the most gruesome of deaths, we realize quickly that this is not a particularly sympathetic portrayal of Mrs. Kennedy. In the moments and days following the assassination, the First Lady is alternately composed, inconsolable, tyrannical, reasonable, obsessive, and inconsistent. Portman captures it all beautifully. Kudos to her.
But, like The Queen and The Iron Lady, Jackie is by no means a great film. It has an obscenely overbearing and atonal soundtrack; an odd mix of flashbacks and flash-forwards, and uses a worn plot device to tell the story. The latter involves an interview she gives, supposedly a week after the assassination, to an unnamed reporter (credited as “The Journalist”) that reveals her manipulative self, the self-absorbed woman who knows her role and the image she wants to project. And the journalist (played by Billy Crudup), whoever he is supposed to be, asks her good questions for which he gets few straight answers and, when he does, is told he can’t use much of it because it puts her in a bad light – her chain smoking, her vanity, etc.
Chilean director Pablo Larrain, known for aggressive, violent films, shows his heavy hand here. As if this story isn’t compelling enough, Larrain hits us over the head with the behind-the-scenes story of the days encircling the assassination. His supporting characters, well-known historical figures like Bobby Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson, and Jack Valenti (Johnson’s special assistant and later President of the Motion Picture Association of America) are vacuous, empty shells compared to Jackie.
In many ways, this film is compelling. As voyeurs, we want to know what went on behind the scenes of those awful days in late November 1963. We want Jackie to be brave, likable, insightful, and strong. If that is the Jackie Kennedy you want to see, you are likely to be disappointed. If you want to see an exceptional performance by an actress at her best, see Jackie. I am guessing you will walk away impressed by Portman and disappointed by the movie.