Jackie, directed by Pablo Larrain, is a drama with the look and feel of a horror film. The musical score, composed by Mica Levi (who also composed the music for another haunting film, Under the Skin), invites feelings of stomach-churning dread. The cinematography is slightly grainy, giving the movie both an appropriately retro feeling but also a distinct sense that the viewer is a voyeur and is privy to moments no one should see, such as a drunk, recently widowed Jackie Kennedy trying on all the dresses in her closet and chasing pills with vodka.
Much as been made of Natalie Portman's performance as the dignified-to-a-fault first lady. Her accent, it's been said, perfectly captures Jackie's WASPy inflection. It's creepy to listen to and, to me, had moments where it sounded like Portman was doing an impression of Cartman from South Park--a sort of whiny, nasally voice. But Portman, who will surely be nominated for another Best Actress Oscar, taps into the grief-addled mind of a woman who lived for her husband and now must preserve his legacy and move forward on her own.
Jackie has a framing story--an interview Mrs. Kennedy did for Life magazine a week after JFK's death. Billy Crudup plays Theodore White, the smug interviewer who pokes at Jackie, trying to get to the "truth" while Jackie gives him what he wants--a description of the sound the bullet made when it hit John F. Kennedy's skull, for example--and then forbids him to print what she said. It's a funny little cat and mouse game that reveals both Jackie's flesh-and-blood human side and the mask she carefully wore as a public figure.
The film focuses entirely on the immediate aftermath of Kennedy's assassination. Within two hours of losing the man she loved, Jackie must watch as Lyndon Johnson (played by great character actor John Carol Lynch) is sworn in as president. She must also make decisions regarding her husband's funeral and burial--decisions that, she feels, will make or break his legacy. Portman comfortably shares the screen with Peter Sarsgaard, one of my favorite actors, who plays Bobby Kennedy--the two comfort each other and bicker over how the funeral procession should go. Should they travel by car, which is safer, or walk, which is more of a spectacle (which is what Jackie wanted)? On Jackie's insistence, they end up walking.
By narrowing the scope of the film down to about one week in Jackie Kennedy Onassis's life, Larrain is able to say more about this glamorous, incredibly intelligent woman than he could if he attempted to direct a movie about her entire life. This is a problem biopics often make--they try to show as much of a person's life as possible and thus only scratch the surface. They value breadth over depth, which is the opposite of what Larrain does with Jackie. He goes deep--deep into Jackie's personality, but also deep into her special grief. She's not just a widow; she's a widow during a time when women were expected to live for their husbands more than for themselves. What does it mean to lose the center of your world? And more: she's the widow to the president of the United States, so her every move will be carefully watched and recorded.
Jackie is most definitely not a pleasant film. It only needs to be watched once. And there are plenty of other films and books that delve into the entirety of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. But this film does an excellent job at revealing the strength, the stubbornness, and the humanity of one of America's most beloved First Ladies.
Grade: B+
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