Jackie places us in the world of the former first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy (played by Natalie Portman), after the assassination of president John F. Kennedy. The movie is told through a conversation between Jackie and a journalist and mixed with flashbacks from her point of view. This works stylistically; however, even with this and Natalie Portman’s excellent portrayal, the movie’s pace and lack of risks prevent this movie from being special.
If the target audience is people who know close to nothing about this event then I would consider the movie a success. However, for the audience that is fairly educated about JFK’s assassination, not much is brought to the table. The film, although it goes behind what has been seen publicly before, it fails to break her from what we already have seen. The iconic, stoic role she portrayed in face of this great tragedy at the time, is never deviated from, even when she is behind closed doors. This unwavering conscientiousness makes her character very much unaccessible and unrealistic. I think that the choice to not take any risks with the title character contributed to the mundane nature this film took on.
The other flaw of this film was the pace. The conversation with the journalist moves slowly and the flashbacks don’t get interesting until late in the film. I think that the film could be much stronger with a major restructuring of the story. There is not much to draw the viewer in and the public knowledge of the tragedy prevents the film from being suspenseful.
Overall the film falls short as a movie. The story is an important one, but the film itself brings little new value to the audience. Although it puts you in her shoes and gives a unique perspective of the assassination, it does not give you new insight into Jackie Kennedy’s life.
