Director/ Pablo Larrain (NERUDA, NO)
Stars/ Natalie Portman, Billy Crudup, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig

If there is just one reason to watch JACKIE, it is to witness the Portman performance. Ever since her 2010 Oscar win in BLACK SWAN, a quality film or (at least) a challenging character to portray in a film, has strangely eluded the Hollywood star. Well, her intense efforts in JACKIE, which have earned her a Golden Globe nomination, is nothing short of being brilliantly captivating. She teams up with Chile’s greatest director, Pablo Larrain to portray former First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy.

The JACKIE screenplay, which was on the 2010 Blacklist and is written by Noah Oppenheim (ALLEGIANT and THE MAZE RUNNER), chronicles the days following the 1963 assassination of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy.

As you can easily imagine and understand, the aftermath of the assassination that shook the world, would have been unfathomably difficult for the real-life Jacqueline Kennedy to deal with. Therefore, your very own acceptance of the script’s study of its subject and the level of devotion to the central character, will be the most decisive or the most divisive factors governing your accessibility to this film.

In JACKIE, a journalist (played by Billy Crudup) is interviewing the former First Lady at her residence, four days after the tragic event. The script, courtesy of flashbacks, digs deep into the overwhelming range of emotions Jackie battles as she simultaneously grapples with certain political and social responsibilities that the entire world awaits from her.

Larrain’s first film to be partially filmed in the United States (this is also shot in France) is more artistically memorable and stylishly shot than it is wholly captivating as a character study. Certain aspects of Jackie’s personal dilemmas don’t successfully mirror the importance they must have had in real life. At times, when Larrain’s vision, Oppenheim’s writing and Portman’s riveting acting join forces and hit their peak, JACKIE is of high class. However, moments like these are too intermittent in a film that inconsistently engages.

3 stars

Viewer Discretion/ MA15+ (scenes of injury detail, also contains brief strong violence and some language)

Trailer / JACKIE

Moviedoc thanks Entertainment One and The Backlot Studios for the screening invite to this film.

Review by Moviedoc / “LIKE” on Facebook – Moviedoc 

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