Sadly, I don’t think Jackie Kennedy was able to return the pink Chanel suit for store credit. I’d apologize for the glib, but Jackie left me unimpressed that director Pablo Larraín has any better handle on history than said remark conveyed. Pablo’s take on the First Lady for all of 1963 up until November 22 was that the tragedy she experienced on that date was a personal one – felt by the country more as an inconvenience and a protocol opportunity than a national tragedy; she alone felt the true agony in isolated chamber, away from friends, family and the nation itself while the camera behaved like a cat who needs to sit on your chest while you sleep.
Seriously, there were more big-face close-ups in this film than in a combined history of Clearasil commercials.
Jackie Kennedy (Natalie Portman) lived a life of public elation and public tragedy. Her fashion and words were front page news almost as much as her losses of children and a husband. Jackie is presented as one long retrospective in which nameless reporter (Billy Crudup) interviews the new widow in Hyannis Port. During the interview, she’s presented as both cold and shrewd, a 180 degree spin from her 1961 White House tour in which the former “Inquiring Camera Girl” from the Washington-Times Herald is depicted as vapid and relatively foreign to publicity. Perhaps she had a stand-in during the Presidential campaign of 1960. Jackie cleanly divides the pre- and post- tragedy personalities of its title subject. It would seem Jackie Kennedy traded the title of First Lady for a lifetime supply of bitter wisdom.
These are the kind of roles one takes out the desire to stand at a podium holding a gold statue and say things like, “I want to thank …” and “I never imagined …” Well, of course you imagined. Don’t be silly. I doubt very much that the little gold statues will follow this work. Natalie Portman was more effective at being Jackie Kennedy than I would have guessed, but that only means I guess at times she almost reminded me of JFK’s celebrity spouse. She certainly reminded me of somebody who was serious about trying to be Jackie Kennedy … and then there were scenes like one in which she’s furious at Bobby Kennedy (Peter Sarsgaard) for withholding information about Lee Harvey Oswald and, wow, what accent are you going for here, darling?
Speaking of which, “Simpsons” Mayor Joe Quimby comes closer to resembling Bobby Kennedy than Peter Sarsgaard. I’m guessing Sarsgaard was chosen for his constant hang-dog expression to match the somber of the moment– I’m only speculating, but perhaps his natural countenance was supposed to convey a genuine display of pathos as opposed to, you know, acting. FWIW, it didn’t get there.
And what the Hell was up with the vulture-esque Johnsons? In five minutes of screen-time, LBJ (John Carroll Lynch) and Lady Bird (Beth Grant) displayed more callous opportunism than the Sackville-Bagginses. “Oh. Shame. What a tragedy. Truly. So … when are you moving out of the White House?” The history of Jackie suggests that as Jackie Kennedy somberly and soberly reflected 
on her impending eviction just days from the murder of her husband, Lady Bird was in the foyer picking out drapes.
There are exactly three “where were you when …” moments in modern American history: 9/11, Pearl Harbor, and the JFK assassination. (Yes, yes, go ahead and clamor of Moon Landing and MLK, Jr. if you must; they are honorable mentions.) Every.single.person in this country was impacted by the shooting in Dallas. Even the many enemies of Kennedy were floored. How could this happen here? This was an event that defined America and Americans. We still talk about it fifty years later. Yet, Jackie saw this as mostly a solo affair. The film showed shot after shot of Jackie Kennedy alone in silence and pain –without her living children, mind you. Caroline and John-John make little more than cameos here– The counter-display of political schemers and opportunists on all sides gives Jackie a feel that is, how shall I put this? Wrong. Just wrong. It’s hard to reconcile an historical film that doesn’t have a solid grasp on history.
Envied by both friends and foes
Jackie knew elation and throes
Consistent themes
Of life in extremes
Hard to get below her lows
Rated R, 100 Minutes
D: Pablo Larraín
W: Noah Oppenheim
Genre: Personalizing a national tragedy
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Unapologetic and relatively uninformed Jackie sympathizers
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Historians, misogynists
