Jackie : Movie Review

A movie about an incident in history that I apologetically know little or nothing of, the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy in 1963. More to the point, this movie, as its name suggests, is about the Mrs. Jacqueline 'Jackie' Kennedy, the wife of President Kennedy, and her perspective of the days right after the assassination.

It's challenging to provide a deep enough perspective about the story that is told in this movie, about the woman who's husband was murdered in one of the most controversial assassinations in US history, with the man accused, Lee Harvey Oswald, being shot dead in prison before an investigation could be carried out. Who shot Kennedy? Why? Was it Oswald alone? Could it have been averted? All these questions are not answered, and with the scarcity of facts, the speculations continue. But this story is about the woman who was seated next to the President, Jackie, his wife, who held in her lap his head with a part of his skull blown apart by the bullet that killed him.

Jacqueline Kennedy had fiercely guided her privacy and the intimate details of her life and her emotions over the events that followed the incident. The film studies her character, in a persistent close-up, as she attempts to untangle her OWN perspective from a tragedy shared by millions. Natalie Portman's portrayal of Jackie under the direction of Pablo Larrain is meticulous and captures the complexity of an unsentimental perspective on her character's thoughts on marriage, self-image and legacy. A woman uncannily in control, and aware, of her identity, her status, switching between masks for the public, the press, for family, and for when she is truly alone.

Jackie's character is displayed mostly through three events, one being her 1961 guided TV tour of the White House, the second being her discussions with Bobby Kennedy and close White House aides regarding the funeral arrangements for her late husband and how best to cement his legacy and the third being an arranged interview with 'Life' magazine journalist Theodore H. White (played by Billy Crudup) conducted barely a week after the assassination. It is during the interview, that Jackie reveals the most of her true self, while constantly reminding the journo what he can and cannot disclose in his story. 

It is in the discussions regarding John F. Kennedy's funeral arrangements that we see her really stand ground against the advice of the White House aides, about the way she wants Jack (President Kennedy's pet name) to be remembered by the American people and to be remembered in history. Yet among all that happens, very few officials pause to ask her how she is feeling, busy with the newly sworn-in President and the world's affairs that were affected by the incident. 

The most intimate scenes of dealing with the turmoil of emotions, grief, anger, despair, in the film, are the ones that hit the audience the hardest. Be it when Jackie is finally changing out of the blood-stained pink jacket and washing it out of her hair, or when telling her children why their father is not coming home.

Cinematographer Stephane Fontaine's constant intimate close-ups with a character whose personal space is already in quite a delicate state. The film uses aesthetic choices that keep nudging the audience, subtly so, into the zone of discomfort. With non-sequential flashbacks, their jagged nature along the manners of a post-traumatic consciousness.

The film does not aim to contest the truth about Jackie, simply a perspective untold, and brilliantly portrayed. Though at many times I found myself lost, as I had no historical context of the events or the individuals involved or the references made, it is a very good watch indeed. I'd rate this film 9 out of 11 black coffees.