Jackie - Review
Director: Pablo Larrain
Cast: Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, John Hurt
You know her name: Jackie Kennedy. Wife of the infamous JFK. Arguably one of the most popular and memorable First Ladies in presidential history. Revered for her impeccable sense of fashion that inspired many around the world and continues to do so today. An irrefutable icon - but what do we know about Jackie Kennedy other than these attached labels? Enter Pablo Larrain's Jackie; A film that explores the psyche of the First Lady beyond her stylistic choices.
After the 1963 assassination of her husband John F. Kennedy, Jackie examines the life of the titular character (Natalie Portman) in the following weeks as she organises his funeral and reconciles her role as a public figure.
The saying goes; Behind every great man is a great woman. And Pablo Larrain's first English language feature embodies this sentiment in artistically glorious fashion and pulls back the iconic veneer to reveal a portrait of a woman who cannot be defined by the parameters of greatness. Her legacy won't be whittled down to a single phrase and ultimately provides one of the greatest character studies in cinema for audiences to feast upon in years. Often perceived as a figure in need of protection by the people closest to her, she displays an intuitiveness and intelligence that supersedes her ivory tower image and tendency to be coddled. Vying to make her and her husband's time in the White House impressionable, Jackie shrewdly identifies the rising prominence of the visual medium as a way of documentation, noting that being remembered in history books is becoming less prevalent in a society where cameras can capture images, both still and moving, that speak a thousand written words. However, in her desire and venture to be remembered, there's an undeniable selfishness and vanity. The decision to give her husband a funeral procession that mimicked that of Abraham Lincoln's was outlandish, given the fact that her husband's achievements in Office paled in comparison to those of Lincoln's. Jackie is daring enough to reveal that her intentions for the spectacle were driven by her own need for recognition and fulfilment - she may have posed a question mark to those around her, but Jackie was a woman with the strongest conviction of mind.
As resilient and headstrong as Jackie was, the picture casts her in a more vulnerable light, exposing her ongoing bereavement over the loss of two children and her struggle with living a life ready for consumption by the American people. Before her on-camera tour of the White House that garnered her adoring supporters, she expresses her anxiety to her confidant Nancy (Greta Gerwig) who coaches and assures her of her capabilities. This complex and very human representation of the titular character is fully inhabited by Natalie Portman who gives a career best performance. Nailing Jackie's gravelly voice and extended vowel sounds, Portman can effortlessly switch to the ethereal and airy idiolect that Jackie affected when required to perform. Physical and aural likeness aside, the character's contradictions are expertly manoeuvred by the actress who squeezes the role for all its juicy richness. Portman isn't an actor typically renowned for her ability to imitate in the vain of performers such as Meryl Streep or Daniel Day-Lewis, but Jackie clearly takes the first step toward shifting that perception.
We may never know for certain how accurate the interactions depicted in the film are, but with Larrain's powerful direction and Portman's astonishing performance, Jackie is a unique cinematic experience - her memory has been immortalised on film for millions to see. She won't be forgotten.
EB
Cast: Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, John Hurt
You know her name: Jackie Kennedy. Wife of the infamous JFK. Arguably one of the most popular and memorable First Ladies in presidential history. Revered for her impeccable sense of fashion that inspired many around the world and continues to do so today. An irrefutable icon - but what do we know about Jackie Kennedy other than these attached labels? Enter Pablo Larrain's Jackie; A film that explores the psyche of the First Lady beyond her stylistic choices.After the 1963 assassination of her husband John F. Kennedy, Jackie examines the life of the titular character (Natalie Portman) in the following weeks as she organises his funeral and reconciles her role as a public figure.
The saying goes; Behind every great man is a great woman. And Pablo Larrain's first English language feature embodies this sentiment in artistically glorious fashion and pulls back the iconic veneer to reveal a portrait of a woman who cannot be defined by the parameters of greatness. Her legacy won't be whittled down to a single phrase and ultimately provides one of the greatest character studies in cinema for audiences to feast upon in years. Often perceived as a figure in need of protection by the people closest to her, she displays an intuitiveness and intelligence that supersedes her ivory tower image and tendency to be coddled. Vying to make her and her husband's time in the White House impressionable, Jackie shrewdly identifies the rising prominence of the visual medium as a way of documentation, noting that being remembered in history books is becoming less prevalent in a society where cameras can capture images, both still and moving, that speak a thousand written words. However, in her desire and venture to be remembered, there's an undeniable selfishness and vanity. The decision to give her husband a funeral procession that mimicked that of Abraham Lincoln's was outlandish, given the fact that her husband's achievements in Office paled in comparison to those of Lincoln's. Jackie is daring enough to reveal that her intentions for the spectacle were driven by her own need for recognition and fulfilment - she may have posed a question mark to those around her, but Jackie was a woman with the strongest conviction of mind.
As resilient and headstrong as Jackie was, the picture casts her in a more vulnerable light, exposing her ongoing bereavement over the loss of two children and her struggle with living a life ready for consumption by the American people. Before her on-camera tour of the White House that garnered her adoring supporters, she expresses her anxiety to her confidant Nancy (Greta Gerwig) who coaches and assures her of her capabilities. This complex and very human representation of the titular character is fully inhabited by Natalie Portman who gives a career best performance. Nailing Jackie's gravelly voice and extended vowel sounds, Portman can effortlessly switch to the ethereal and airy idiolect that Jackie affected when required to perform. Physical and aural likeness aside, the character's contradictions are expertly manoeuvred by the actress who squeezes the role for all its juicy richness. Portman isn't an actor typically renowned for her ability to imitate in the vain of performers such as Meryl Streep or Daniel Day-Lewis, but Jackie clearly takes the first step toward shifting that perception.
We may never know for certain how accurate the interactions depicted in the film are, but with Larrain's powerful direction and Portman's astonishing performance, Jackie is a unique cinematic experience - her memory has been immortalised on film for millions to see. She won't be forgotten.
EB
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